Communication method, base station, user equipment, and system

ABSTRACT

A communication method, a base station, user equipment, and a system are provided. The method includes: receiving uplink data that is sent by the user equipment in a specified multiple-access manner on a time-frequency resource corresponding to the specified multiple-access manner; and sending downlink data to the user equipment in a corresponding multiple-access manner on a time-frequency resource corresponding to the corresponding multiple-access manner, where the corresponding multiple-access manner is a multiple-access manner that is obtained by searching a at least two multiple-access manners according to a prestored correspondence and that is associated with the specified multiple-access manner. In this way, a problem that because one multiple-access manner is used in a same communications system, requirements of different user equipments cannot be met at the same time is resolved.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of International Patent ApplicationNo. PCT/CN2013/073142, filed on Mar. 25, 2013, which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to the field of communicationstechnologies, and in particular, to a communication method, a basestation, user equipment, and a system.

BACKGROUND

In a wireless communications system, receiving and sending of data at aspecific logical location is referred to as a multiple-access manner,and specific logical locations are categorized according to time, afrequency, or a spreading code word. The system implements communicationbetween a base station and multiple user equipments in a multiple-accessmanner.

In the prior art, a communications system implements communicationbetween a base station and user equipment in one multiple-access manner.For example, in a communications system that uses an OFDMA (OrthogonalFrequency Division Multiple Access) multiple-access manner, a basestation sends downlink data to different user equipments by usingdifferent subcarriers, and the user equipments send uplink data to thebase station by using the corresponding subcarriers. Because the basestation and the different user equipments perform communication by usingsubcarriers orthogonal to each other, in the communications system usingthe OFDMA multiple-access manner, the different user equipments do notinterfere with each other, and therefore, strong interference immunityis available.

During a process of implementing the present invention, the inventorfinds that the prior art has at least the following problems: Because ina communications system, one multiple-access manner is used throughoutto implement communication between a base station and user equipments,disadvantages of the used multiple-access manner accompany withadvantages of the multiple-access manner. In a future M2M (machine tomachine) service, requirements of different types need to be met in asame network. For example, in a communications system, there may be userequipment in an environment such as a basement or a mine, and therefore,it is required that the communications system have strong coverage, andthe requirement of the communications system can be met in an OFDMAmultiple-access manner. However, for user equipment that requires highrate transmission or needs to transmit a large amount of small data inthe communications system, the requirement cannot be met in an OFDMAmultiple-access manner.

SUMMARY

To resolve a problem that because one multiple-access manner is used inan existing communication system, requirements of different userequipments cannot be met at the same time, embodiments of the presentinvention provide a communication method, a base station, userequipment, and a system. The technical solutions are as follows:

According to a first aspect, a communication method is provided, whichis used on a side of a base station and includes:

receiving uplink data that is sent by user equipment in a specifiedmultiple-access manner on a time-frequency resource corresponding to thespecified multiple-access manner, where the specified multiple-accessmanner is a multiple-access manner selected by the user equipment fromat least two multiple-access manners according to a predeterminedcondition; and

sending downlink data to the user equipment in a correspondingmultiple-access manner on a time-frequency resource corresponding to thecorresponding multiple-access manner, where the correspondingmultiple-access manner is a multiple-access manner that is obtained bysearching the at least two multiple-access manners according to aprestored correspondence and that is associated with the specifiedmultiple-access manner, where

the at least two multiple-access manners include at least two of a firstmultiple-access manner, a second multiple-access manner, and a thirdmultiple-access manner, the first multiple-access manner is anOrthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access OFDMA multiple-accessmanner or a Single-carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access SC-FDMAmultiple-access manner, the second multiple-access manner is anOFDMA+Code Division Multiple Access CDMA multiple-access manner or anSC-FDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner, and the third multiple-accessmanner is an OFDMA+Interleaver-Division Multiple Access IDMAmultiple-access manner or an SC-FDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementationmanner of the first aspect, before the receiving uplink data that issent by user equipment in a specified multiple-access manner on atime-frequency resource corresponding to the specified multiple-accessmanner, the method further includes:

sending a correspondence between the at least two multiple-accessmanners and the time-frequency resource to the user equipment accordingto a predetermined sending manner, where

the predetermined sending manner includes: a notification by using asystem broadcast or a notification by using signaling.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the firstaspect, in a second possible implementation manner, before the sending acorrespondence between the at least two multiple-access manners and thetime-frequency resource to the user equipment according to apredetermined sending manner, the method further includes:

generating the correspondence between the at least two multiple-accessmanners and the time-frequency resource according to a predeterminedcategorization manner, where

the predetermined categorization manner includes any one of threemanners: categorization according to a time domain, categorizationaccording to a frequency domain, and categorization according to atime-frequency domain.

With reference to the first aspect or the first or second possibleimplementation manner of the first aspect, in a third possibleimplementation manner, before the sending downlink data to the userequipment in a corresponding multiple-access manner on a time-frequencyresource corresponding to the corresponding multiple-access manner, themethod further includes:

storing a one-to-one correspondence between the specifiedmultiple-access manner and the corresponding multiple-access manner,where the one-to-one correspondence includes:

if the specified multiple-access manner is the first multiple-accessmanner, the corresponding multiple-access manner is the firstmultiple-access manner;

if the specified multiple-access manner is the second multiple-accessmanner, the corresponding multiple-access manner is the secondmultiple-access manner; and

if the specified multiple-access manner is the third multiple-accessmanner, the corresponding multiple-access manner is any one of the firstmultiple-access manner, the second multiple-access manner, and the thirdmultiple-access manner.

With reference to the first aspect or the first, second, or thirdpossible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fourth possibleimplementation manner, the sending downlink data to the user equipmentin a corresponding multiple-access manner on a time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the corresponding multiple-access manner includes:

searching for a corresponding multiple-access manner corresponding to aspecified multiple-access manner that is most recently used by the userequipment; and

sending the downlink data to the user equipment in the foundcorresponding multiple-access manner on the time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the corresponding multiple-access manner.

With reference to the first aspect or the first, second, third, orfourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fifthpossible implementation manner, after the sending downlink data to theuser equipment in a corresponding multiple-access manner on atime-frequency resource corresponding to the correspondingmultiple-access manner, the method further includes:

if a receiving feedback of the user equipment for the downlink data isnot received, sending again the downlink data to the user equipment inanother multiple-access manner different from the correspondingmultiple-access manner in the at least two multiple-access manners.

With reference to the first aspect or the first, second, third, fourth,or fifth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a sixthpossible implementation manner, the predetermined condition includes amultiple-access manner selection range, and before the sending acorrespondence to the user equipment, the method further includes:

sending signaling used for configuring the multiple-access mannerselection range to the user equipment, where the multiple-access mannerselection range is a selectable range when the user equipment selects amultiple-access manner from the at least two multiple-access mannersaccording to the predetermined condition.

According to a second aspect, a communication method is provided, whichis used on a side of user equipment and includes:

acquiring a correspondence between at least two multiple-access mannersand a time-frequency resource;

selecting, from the at least two multiple-access manners according to apredetermined condition, a multiple-access manner as a specifiedmultiple-access manner;

sending uplink data to a base station in the specified multiple-accessmanner on a time-frequency resource corresponding to the specifiedmultiple-access manner; and

receiving downlink data that is sent by the base station in acorresponding multiple-access manner on a time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the corresponding multiple-access manner, where thecorresponding multiple-access manner is a multiple-access manner that isobtained by the base station by searching the at least twomultiple-access manners according to a prestored correspondence and thatis associated with the specified multiple-access manner, where

the at least two multiple-access manners include at least two of a firstmultiple-access manner, a second multiple-access manner, and a thirdmultiple-access manner, the first multiple-access manner is anOrthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access OFDMA multiple-accessmanner or a Single-carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access SC-FDMAmultiple-access manner, the second multiple-access manner is anOFDMA+Code Division Multiple Access CDMA multiple-access manner or anSC-FDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner, and the third multiple-accessmanner is an OFDMA+Interleaver-Division Multiple Access IDMAmultiple-access manner or an SC-FDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementationmanner of the second aspect, the acquiring a correspondence between atleast two multiple-access manners and a time-frequency resourceincludes:

acquiring the prestored correspondence, where the correspondence is acorrespondence agreed upon in advance;

or,

receiving a correspondence that is sent by the base station according toa predetermined sending manner, where the predetermined sending mannerincludes: a notification by using a system broadcast or a notificationby using signaling.

With reference to the second aspect, in a second possible implementationmanner, the predetermined condition includes at least one of thefollowing: a QOS priority of a service type, signal strength, a size ofa data block in a service type, and a multiple-access manner selectionrange, and the selecting, from the at least two multiple-access mannersaccording to a predetermined condition, a multiple-access manner as aspecified multiple-access manner includes:

if the predetermined condition includes a QOS priority of a servicetype, selecting the first multiple-access manner as the specifiedmultiple-access manner when the QOS priority of the service type isrelatively high;

if the predetermined condition includes signal strength, selecting thesecond multiple-access manner as the specified multiple-access mannerwhen the signal strength is less than a first preset threshold;

if the predetermined condition includes a size of a data block in aservice type, selecting the third multiple-access manner as thespecified multiple-access manner when the size of the data blocktransmitted in the service type is less than a fourth preset threshold;and

if the predetermined condition includes a multiple-access mannerselection range, selecting, from a selectable range defined in themultiple-access manner selection range, a multiple-access manner as thespecified multiple-access manner.

With reference to the second aspect or the first or second possibleimplementation manner of the second aspect, in a third possibleimplementation manner, before the selecting, from the at least twomultiple-access manners according to a predetermined condition, amultiple-access manner as a specified multiple-access manner, the methodfurther includes:

prestoring the multiple-access manner selection range, where themultiple-access manner selection range is a multiple-access mannerselection range agreed upon in advance;

or,

receiving signaling that is used for configuring the multiple-accessmanner selection range and that is sent by the base station; and storingthe multiple-access manner selection range configured by using thesignaling.

With reference to the second aspect or the first, second or thirdpossible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fourthpossible implementation manner, there are two or three selectablemultiple-access manners in the multiple-access manner selection range,and after the selecting, from the at least two multiple-access mannersaccording to a predetermined condition, a multiple-access manner as aspecified multiple-access manner, the method further includes:

determining, at each predetermined time interval, whether a currentlyused specified multiple-access manner still satisfies the predeterminedcondition; and

if a determining result is that the currently used specifiedmultiple-access manner still satisfies the predetermined condition,keeping the currently used specified multiple-access manner unchanged;or

if a determining result is that the currently used specifiedmultiple-access manner does not satisfy the predetermined condition,selecting again, from the at least two multiple-access manners accordingto the predetermined condition, a multiple-access manner as thespecified multiple-access manner.

With reference to the second aspect or the first, second, third, orfourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fifthpossible implementation manner, after the receiving downlink data thatis sent by the base station in a corresponding multiple-access manner ona time-frequency resource corresponding to the correspondingmultiple-access manner, the method further includes:

receiving the downlink data sent again by the base station, where thedownlink data sent again is sent, after the base station does notreceive a receiving feedback of the user equipment for the downlink datasent in the corresponding multiple-access manner on the time-frequencyresource corresponding to the corresponding multiple-access manner, tothe user equipment again in another multiple-access manner differentfrom the corresponding multiple-access manner in the at least twomultiple-access manners.

According to a third aspect, a base station is provided, including:

an uplink receiving module, configured to receive uplink data that issent by user equipment in a specified multiple-access manner on atime-frequency resource corresponding to the specified multiple-accessmanner, where the specified multiple-access manner is a multiple-accessmanner selected by the user equipment from at least two multiple-accessmanners according to a predetermined condition; and

a downlink sending module, configured to send downlink data to the userequipment in a corresponding multiple-access manner on a time-frequencyresource corresponding to the corresponding multiple-access manner,where the corresponding multiple-access manner is a multiple-accessmanner that is obtained by searching the at least two multiple-accessmanners according to a prestored correspondence and that is associatedwith the specified multiple-access manner received by the uplinkreceiving module, where

the at least two multiple-access manners include at least two of a firstmultiple-access manner, a second multiple-access manner, and a thirdmultiple-access manner, the first multiple-access manner is anOrthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access OFDMA multiple-accessmanner or a Single-carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access SC-FDMAmultiple-access manner, the second multiple-access manner is anOFDMA+Code Division Multiple Access CDMA multiple-access manner or anSC-FDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner, and the third multiple-accessmanner is an OFDMA+Interleaver-Division Multiple Access IDMAmultiple-access manner or an SC-FDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner.

With reference to the third aspect, in a first possible implementationmanner of the third aspect, the base station further includes:

a relationship sending module, where

the relationship sending module is configured to send a correspondencebetween the at least two multiple-access manners and the time-frequencyresource to the user equipment according to a predetermined sendingmanner, where

the predetermined sending manner includes: a notification by using asystem broadcast or a notification by using signaling.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the thirdaspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the base stationfurther includes:

a relationship generating module, configured to generate thecorrespondence between the at least two multiple-access manners and thetime-frequency resource according to a predetermined categorizationmanner, where

the predetermined categorization manner includes any one of threemanners: categorization according to a time domain, categorizationaccording to a frequency domain, and categorization according to atime-frequency domain.

With reference to the third aspect or the first or second possibleimplementation manner of the third aspect, in a third possibleimplementation manner, the base station further includes:

a relationship storage module, configured to store a one-to-onecorrespondence between the specified multiple-access manner and thecorresponding multiple-access manner, where the one-to-onecorrespondence includes:

if the specified multiple-access manner is the first multiple-accessmanner, the corresponding multiple-access manner is the firstmultiple-access manner;

if the specified multiple-access manner is the second multiple-accessmanner, the corresponding multiple-access manner is the secondmultiple-access manner; and

if the specified multiple-access manner is the third multiple-accessmanner, the corresponding multiple-access manner is any one of the firstmultiple-access manner, the second multiple-access manner, and the thirdmultiple-access manner.

With reference to the third aspect or the first, second, or thirdpossible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a fourth possibleimplementation manner, the downlink sending module includes:

a search unit and a sending unit, where

the search unit is configured to search for a correspondingmultiple-access manner that is corresponding to a specifiedmultiple-access manner most recently used by the user equipment and thatis received by the uplink receiving module; and

the sending unit is configured to send the downlink data to the userequipment in the corresponding multiple-access manner, found by thesearch unit, on the time-frequency resource corresponding to thecorresponding multiple-access manner.

With reference to the third aspect or the first, second, third, orfourth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a fifthpossible implementation manner, the base station further includes:

a resending module, configured to: if a receiving feedback of the userequipment for the downlink data sent by the downlink sending module isnot received, send the downlink data again to the user equipment inanother multiple-access manner that is different from the correspondingmultiple-access manner in the at least two multiple-access manners.

With reference to the third aspect or the first, second, third, fourth,or fifth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a sixthpossible implementation manner, the predetermined condition includes amultiple-access manner selection range, and the base station furtherincludes:

a signaling sending module, configured to send signaling used forconfiguring the multiple-access manner selection range to the userequipment, where the multiple-access manner selection range is aselectable range when the user equipment selects a multiple-accessmanner from the at least two multiple-access manners according to thepredetermined condition.

According to a fourth aspect, user equipment is provided, including:

a relationship acquiring module, configured to acquire a correspondencebetween at least two multiple-access manners and a time-frequencyresource;

a manner selection module, configured to select, according to apredetermined condition from the at least two multiple-access mannersacquired by the relationship acquiring module, a multiple-access manneras a specified multiple-access manner;

an uplink sending module, configured to send uplink data to a basestation in the specified multiple-access manner, selected by the mannerselection module, on a time-frequency resource corresponding to thespecified multiple-access manner; and

a downlink receiving module, configured to receive downlink data that issent by the base station in a corresponding multiple-access manner on atime-frequency resource corresponding to the correspondingmultiple-access manner, where the corresponding multiple-access manneris a multiple-access manner that is obtained by the base station bysearching the at least two multiple-access manners according to aprestored correspondence and that is associated with the specifiedmultiple-access manner, where

the at least two multiple-access manners include any two or all three ofa first multiple-access manner, a second multiple-access manner, and athird multiple-access manner, the first multiple-access manner is anOrthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access OFDMA multiple-accessmanner or a Single-carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access SC-FDMAmultiple-access manner, the second multiple-access manner is anOFDMA+Code Division Multiple Access CDMA multiple-access manner or anSC-FDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner, and the third multiple-accessmanner is an OFDMA+Interleaver-Division Multiple Access IDMAmultiple-access manner or an SC-FDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a first possible implementationmanner of the fourth aspect, the relationship acquiring module includes:

an agreement acquiring unit, configured to acquire the prestoredcorrespondence, wherein the correspondence is a correspondence agreedupon in advance;

or,

a relationship receiving unit, configured to receive a correspondencethat is sent by the base station according to a predetermined sendingmanner, wherein the predetermined sending manner comprises: anotification by using a system broadcast or a notification by usingsignaling.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a second possible implementationmanner, the predetermined condition includes at least one of thefollowing: a QOS priority of a service type, signal strength, a size ofa data block in a service type, and a multiple-access manner selectionrange; and the manner selection module includes:

at least one of a first selection unit, a second selection unit, a thirdselection unit, and a fourth selection unit, where

the first selection unit is configured to: if the predeterminedcondition includes a QOS priority of the service type, select the firstmultiple-access manner as the specified multiple-access manner when theQOS priority of the service type is relatively high;

the second selection unit is configured to: if the predeterminedcondition includes signal strength, select the second multiple-accessmanner as the specified multiple-access manner when the signal strengthis less than a first preset threshold;

the third selection unit is configured to: if the predeterminedcondition includes a size of a data block in a service type, select thethird multiple-access manner as the specified multiple-access mannerwhen the size of the data block transmitted in the service type is lessthan a fourth preset threshold; and

the fourth selection unit is configured to: if the predeterminedcondition includes a multiple-access manner selection range, select,from a selectable range defined in the multiple-access manner selectionrange, a multiple-access manner as the specified multiple-access manner.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first or second possibleimplementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a third possibleimplementation manner, the user equipment further includes:

an agreement storage module, configured to prestore the multiple-accessmanner selection range, where the multiple-access manner selection rangeis a multiple-access manner selection range agreed upon in advance;

or,

a signaling receiving module, configured to receive signaling that isused for configuring the multiple-access manner selection range and thatis sent by the base station; and a storage module, configured to storethe multiple-access manner selection range that is configured by usingthe signaling received by the signaling receiving module.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first, second, or thirdpossible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a fourthpossible implementation manner, there are two or three selectablemultiple-access manners in the multiple-access manner selection range,and the user equipment further includes:

a determining module, configured to determine, at each predeterminedtime interval, whether a specified multiple-access manner currently usedby the uplink sending module still satisfies the predeterminedcondition;

a keeping module, configured to: if a determining result of thedetermining module is that the currently used specified multiple-accessmanner still satisfies the predetermined condition, keep the currentlyused specified multiple-access manner unchanged; and

a reselection module, configured to: if the determining result of thedetermining module is that the currently used specified multiple-accessmanner does not satisfy the predetermined condition, select again, fromthe at least two multiple-access manners according to the predeterminedcondition, a multiple-access manner as the specified multiple-accessmanner.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first, second, third, orfourth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a fifthpossible implementation manner, the user equipment further includes:

a re-receiving module, configured to receive the downlink data sentagain by the base station, where the downlink data sent again is sent,after the base station does not receive a receiving feedback of the userequipment for the downlink data sent in the correspondingmultiple-access manner on the time-frequency resource corresponding tothe corresponding multiple-access manner, to the user equipment again inanother multiple-access manner different from the correspondingmultiple-access manner in the at least two multiple-access manners.

According to a fifth aspect, a communications system is provided,including the base station according to any one of the possibleimplementation manners of the third aspect and the user equipmentaccording to any one of the possible implementation manners of thefourth aspect.

According to a sixth aspect, a base station is provided, including:

a processor, a receiver, and a transmitter, where

the receiver is configured to receive uplink data that is sent by userequipment in a specified multiple-access manner on a time-frequencyresource corresponding to the specified multiple-access manner, wherethe specified multiple-access manner is a multiple-access mannerselected by the user equipment from at least two multiple-access mannersaccording to a predetermined condition; and

the transmitter is configured to send downlink data to the userequipment in a corresponding multiple-access manner on a time-frequencyresource corresponding to the corresponding multiple-access manner,where the corresponding multiple-access manner is a multiple-accessmanner that is obtained by the processor by searching the at least twomultiple-access manners according to a prestored correspondence and thatis associated with the specified multiple-access manner, where

the at least two multiple-access manners include at least two of a firstmultiple-access manner, a second multiple-access manner, and a thirdmultiple-access manner, the first multiple-access manner is anOrthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access OFDMA multiple-accessmanner or a Single-carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access SC-FDMAmultiple-access manner, the second multiple-access manner is anOFDMA+Code Division Multiple Access CDMA multiple-access manner or anSC-FDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner, and the third multiple-accessmanner is an OFDMA+Interleaver-Division Multiple Access IDMAmultiple-access manner or an SC-FDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in a first possible implementationmanner of the sixth aspect, the processor is specifically configured toagree upon a correspondence with the user equipment in advance;

or,

the transmitter is further configured to send a correspondence betweenthe at least two multiple-access manners and the time-frequency resourceto the user equipment according to a predetermined sending manner, where

the predetermined sending manner includes: a notification by using asystem broadcast or a notification by using signaling.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the sixthaspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the processor isfurther configured to generate the correspondence between the at leasttwo multiple-access manners and the time-frequency resource according toa predetermined categorization manner, where

the predetermined categorization manner includes any one of threemanners: categorization according to a time domain, categorizationaccording to a frequency domain, and categorization according to atime-frequency domain.

With reference to the sixth aspect or the first or second possibleimplementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a third possibleimplementation manner, the base station further includes:

a memory, configured to store a one-to-one correspondence between thespecified multiple-access manner and the corresponding multiple-accessmanner, where the one-to-one correspondence includes:

if the specified multiple-access manner is the first multiple-accessmanner, the corresponding multiple-access manner is the firstmultiple-access manner;

if the specified multiple-access manner is the second multiple-accessmanner, the corresponding multiple-access manner is the secondmultiple-access manner; and

if the specified multiple-access manner is the third multiple-accessmanner, the corresponding multiple-access manner is any one of the firstmultiple-access manner, the second multiple-access manner, and the thirdmultiple-access manner.

With reference to the sixth aspect or the first, second, or thirdpossible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a fourth possibleimplementation manner, the processor is further configured to search fora corresponding multiple-access manner that is corresponding to aspecified multiple-access manner most recently used by the userequipment and that is received by the receiver; and

the transmitter is further configured to send the downlink data to theuser equipment in the corresponding multiple-access manner, found by theprocessor, on the time-frequency resource corresponding to thecorresponding multiple-access manner.

With reference to the sixth aspect or the first, second, third, orfourth possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a fifthpossible implementation manner, the processor is further configured to:if the receiver does not receive a receiving feedback of the userequipment for the downlink data, control the transmitter to send thedownlink data again to the user equipment in another multiple-accessmanner different from the corresponding multiple-access manner in the atleast two multiple-access manners.

With reference to the sixth aspect or the first, second, third, fourth,or fifth possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a sixthpossible implementation manner, the predetermined condition includes amultiple-access manner selection range, and the transmitter is furtherconfigured to send signaling used for configuring the multiple-accessmanner selection range to the user equipment, where the multiple-accessmanner selection range is a selectable range when the user equipmentselects a multiple-access manner from the at least two multiple-accessmanners according to the predetermined condition.

According to a seventh aspect, user equipment is provided, including:

a processor, a transmitter, and a receiver, where

the processor is configured to acquire a correspondence between at leasttwo multiple-access manners and a time-frequency resource;

the processor is further configured to select, from the at least twomultiple-access manners according to a predetermined condition, amultiple-access manner as a specified multiple-access manner;

the transmitter is configured to send uplink data to a base station inthe specified multiple-access manner, selected by the processor, on atime-frequency resource corresponding to the specified multiple-accessmanner; and

the receiver is configured to receive downlink data that is sent by thebase station in a corresponding multiple-access manner on atime-frequency resource corresponding to the correspondingmultiple-access manner, where the corresponding multiple-access manneris a multiple-access manner that is obtained by the base station bysearching the at least two multiple-access manners according to aprestored correspondence and that is associated with the specifiedmultiple-access manner, where

the at least two multiple-access manners include at least two of a firstmultiple-access manner, a second multiple-access manner, and a thirdmultiple-access manner, the first multiple-access manner is anOrthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access OFDMA multiple-accessmanner or a Single-carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access SC-FDMAmultiple-access manner, the second multiple-access manner is anOFDMA+Code Division Multiple Access CDMA multiple-access manner or anSC-FDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner, and the third multiple-accessmanner is an OFDMA+Interleaver-Division Multiple Access IDMAmultiple-access manner or an SC-FDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner.

With reference to the seventh aspect, in a first possible implementationmanner of the seventh aspect, the processor is specifically configuredto acquire the prestored correspondence, where the correspondence is acorrespondence agreed upon in advance;

or,

the processor is further specifically configured to control the receiverto receive a correspondence that is sent by the base station accordingto a predetermined sending manner, where the predetermined sendingmanner includes: a notification by using a system broadcast or anotification by using signaling.

With reference to the seventh aspect, in a second possibleimplementation manner, the predetermined condition includes at least oneof the following: a QOS priority of a service type, signal strength, asize of a data block in a service type, and a multiple-access mannerselection range; and the processor is specifically configured to: if thepredetermined condition includes a QOS priority of a service type,select the first multiple-access manner as the specified multiple-accessmanner when the QOS priority of the service type is relatively high;

the processor is further specifically configured to: if thepredetermined condition includes signal strength, select the secondmultiple-access manner as the specified multiple-access manner when thesignal strength is less than a first preset threshold;

the processor is further specifically configured to: if thepredetermined condition includes a size of a data block in a servicetype, select the third multiple-access manner as the specifiedmultiple-access manner when the size of the data block transmitted inthe service type is less than a fourth preset threshold; and

the processor is further specifically configured to: if thepredetermined condition includes a multiple-access manner selectionrange, select, from a selectable range defined in the multiple-accessmanner selection range, a multiple-access manner as the specifiedmultiple-access manner.

With reference to the seventh aspect or the first or second possibleimplementation manner of the seventh aspect, in a third possibleimplementation manner, the user equipment further includes:

a memory, where

the memory is configured to prestore the multiple-access mannerselection range, where the multiple-access manner selection range is amultiple-access manner selection range agreed upon in advance;

or, the receiver is further configured to receive signaling that is usedfor configuring the multiple-access manner selection range and that issent by the base station; and the memory is further configured to storethe multiple-access manner selection range that is configured by usingthe signaling received by the receiver.

With reference to the seventh aspect or the first, second, or thirdpossible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, in a fourthpossible implementation manner, there are two or three selectablemultiple-access manners in the multiple-access manner selection range;and

the processor is further configured to determine, at each predeterminedtime interval, whether a specified multiple-access manner currently usedby the transmitter still satisfies the predetermined condition;

the processor is further configured to: if a determining result is thatthe currently used specified multiple-access manner still satisfies thepredetermined condition, keep the currently used specifiedmultiple-access manner unchanged; and

the processor is further configured to: if a determining result is thatthe currently used specified multiple-access manner does not satisfy thepredetermined condition, select again, from the at least twomultiple-access manners according to the predetermined condition, amultiple-access manner as the specified multiple-access manner.

With reference to the seventh aspect or the first, second, third, orfourth possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, in a fifthpossible implementation manner, the receiver is further configured toreceive the downlink data sent again by the base station, where thedownlink data sent again is sent, when the base station does not receivea receiving feedback of the user equipment for the downlink data sent inthe corresponding multiple-access manner on the time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the corresponding multiple-access manner, to the userequipment again in another multiple-access manner different from thecorresponding multiple-access manner in the at least two multiple-accessmanners.

According to an eighth aspect, a communications system is provided,including the base station according to any one of the possibleimplementation manners of the sixth aspect and the user equipmentaccording to any one of the possible implementation manners of theseventh aspect.

Beneficial effects of the technical solutions provided in theembodiments of the present invention are as follows:

A base station receives uplink data that is sent by user equipment in aspecified multiple-access manner on a time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the specified multiple-access manner, where thespecified multiple-access manner is a multiple-access manner selected bythe user equipment from at least two multiple-access manners accordingto a predetermined condition; and sends downlink data to the userequipment in a corresponding multiple-access manner on a time-frequencyresource corresponding to the corresponding multiple-access manner,where the corresponding multiple-access manner is a multiple-accessmanner that is obtained by searching the at least two multiple-accessmanners according to a prestored correspondence and that is associatedwith the specified multiple-access manner. In this way, a problem thatbecause one multiple-access manner is used in a same communicationssystem, requirements of different user equipments cannot be met at thesame time is resolved, and an effect of meeting requirements ofdifferent user equipments is achieved because a same communicationssystem can provide multiple multiple-access manners at the same time forselection by user equipment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

To describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the presentinvention more clearly, the following briefly introduces theaccompanying drawings required for describing the embodiments.Apparently, the accompanying drawings in the following description showmerely some embodiments of the present invention, and a person ofordinary skill in the art may still derive other drawings from theseaccompanying drawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a method flowchart of a communication method according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a method flowchart of a communication method according toanother embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3a is a schematic structural diagram of a correspondence betweenthree multiple-access manners and a time-frequency resource in a timedivision manner according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3b is a schematic structural diagram of a correspondence betweenthree multiple-access manners and a time-frequency resource in afrequency division manner according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3c is a schematic structural diagram of a correspondence betweenthree multiple-access manners and a time-frequency resource in atime-frequency division manner according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a method flowchart of a communication method according toanother embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a communications systemaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a communications systemaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a communications systemaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a structural block diagram of a communications systemaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a structural block diagram of a communications systemaccording to another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 10 is a structural block diagram of a communications systemaccording to another embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of thepresent invention clearer, the following further describes theembodiments of the present invention in detail with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

Embodiments of the present invention provide two or more multiple-accessmanners for user equipment, so that the user equipment can flexiblyselect, according to a service requirement, a multiple-access mannermeeting the service requirement. Three types of multiple-access mannersprovided in the embodiments of the present invention are brieflyintroduced as follows:

1. First Multiple-Access Manner

The first multiple-access manner may be an OFDMA (Orthogonal FrequencyDivision Multiple Access) multiple-access manner or an SC-FDMA(Single-carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access) multiple-accessmanner.

The OFDMA multiple-access manner is a multiple-access manner generatedon the basis of an OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing)modulation technology. In the OFDM modulation technology, a channel isdivided into several orthogonal subchannels. High-speed data signals areconverted into parallel low-speed sub-data streams and are modulated fortransmission on the orthogonal subchannels. Correspondingly, in theOFDMA multiple-access manner, transmission bandwidth is divided into aseries of orthogonal subcarrier sets that do not overlap with eachother, and different subcarrier sets are allocated to different userequipments for implementing multiple access. Because of a characteristicof the OFDMA multiple-access manner, in a communications system usingthe OFDMA multiple-access manner, a base station and user equipmentstransmit communications data by using subcarriers orthogonal to eachother. In an ideal case, no interference exists between the userequipments. Further, an OFDMA system dynamically allocates an availablebandwidth resource to user equipment that needs a bandwidth resource,which implements optimized utilization of system resources. The SC-FDMAmultiple-access manner and the OFDMA multiple-access manner are similarin technology for the most part, and related technical details are notdescribed herein again; however, it should be noted that the SC-FDMAmultiple-access manner and the OFDMA multiple-access manner both haveadvantages of effectively preventing interference, improving spectrumutilization, and transmitting data at a high rate.

2. Second Multiple-Access Manner

The second multiple-access manner is an OFDMA+CDMA (Code DivisionMultiple Access, Code Division Multiple Access) multiple-access manneror an SC-FDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner.

The OFDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner is a multiple access system of atype combining OFDMA and CDMA. An existing multiple-access manner ofthis type includes an MC-CDMA (Multi Carrier-Code Division MultipleAccess) multiple-access manner, an LDS-OFDMA (Low Density SignatureOrthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) multiple-access manner,and the like. CDMA is a communications system based on a code divisiontechnology and a multiple access technology. In the system, a specificaddress code is allocated to each user equipment, and different addresscodes are orthogonal to each other; therefore, the address codes mayoverlap in time, space, and frequency. A base station modulatescommunications data, which needs to be transferred and has certainsignal bandwidth, by using a pseudo random code whose bandwidth is fargreater than the signal bandwidth, so that the signal bandwidth of theoriginal communications data is expanded. After receiving modulatedinformation sent by the base station, the user equipment obtains, bymeans of a reverse process, the communications data sent by the basestation. The type combining OFDMA and CDMA not only has advantages ofstrong interference immunity and a large capacity of conventional CDMA,but also has a multi-path interference immunity of OFDMA. For example,for an MC-CDMA system, during an actual communication process, anoriginal data stream is first duplicated into N channels of paralleldata, and each channel of data is multiplied by one digit of a frequencydomain extension code whose length is N and is then modulated fortransmission on orthogonal subcarriers, so that a system using anMC-CDMA multiple-access manner not only has advantages of stronginterference immunity and a large capacity of conventional CDMA, butalso has a multi-path interference immunity of OFDMA.

The SC-FDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner and the OFDMA+CDMAmultiple-access manner are similar in technology for the most part, andrelated technical details are not described herein again; however, itshould be noted that the SC-FDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner and theOFDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner both have an advantage of a largecoverage area.

3. Third Multiple-Access Manner

The third multiple-access manner is an OFDMA+IDMA (Interleaver-DivisionMultiple Access) multiple-access manner or an SC-FDMA+IDMAmultiple-access manner.

OFDMA+IDMA is a novel multiple-access manner combining OFDMA and IDMA.IDMA uses a chip-level Interleaver corresponding to a unique identifierof user equipment to distinguish user equipment from a channel. Comparedwith a conventional CDMA system, IDMA has stronger multiple-accessinterference immunity. A system using the OFDMA+IDMA multiple-accessmanner has advantages of higher spectrum utilization, a larger systemthroughput, and housing more user equipments. The SC-FDMA+IDMAmultiple-access manner and the OFDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner aresimilar in technology for the most part, and related technical detailsare not described herein again; however, it should be noted that theSC-FDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner and the OFDMA+IDMA multiple-accessmanner have a relatively great advantage of transmitting a largequantity of small data packets.

Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a method flowchart of a communicationmethod according to an embodiment of the present invention. In thisembodiment, an example in which the communication method is applied to acommunications system including a base station and user equipment ismainly used for description. The communication method includes:

Step 102: The user equipment acquires a correspondence between at leasttwo multiple-access manners and a time-frequency resource.

The user equipment acquires the correspondence between the at least twomultiple-access manners and the time-frequency resource. The at leasttwo multiple-access manners include at least two of a firstmultiple-access manner, a second multiple-access manner, and a thirdmultiple-access manner, the first multiple-access manner is an OFDMAmultiple-access manner or an SC-FDMA multiple-access manner, the secondmultiple-access manner is an OFDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner or anSC-FDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner, and the third multiple-accessmanner is an OFDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner or an SC-FDMA+IDMAmultiple-access manner. Multiple-access manners are corresponding todifferent time-frequency resources.

Step 104: The user equipment selects, from the at least twomultiple-access manners according to a predetermined condition, amultiple-access manner as a specified multiple-access manner.

The user equipment selects, from the at least two multiple-accessmanners according to the predetermined condition, a multiple-accessmanner as the specified multiple-access manner, where the predeterminedcondition may include at least one of the following: a QOS priority of aservice type, signal strength, a size of a data block in a service type,and a multiple-access manner selection range.

Step 106: The user equipment sends uplink data to the base station inthe specified multiple-access manner on a time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the specified multiple-access manner.

The user equipment sends the uplink data to the base station in thespecified multiple-access manner on the time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the specified multiple-access manner. The specifiedmultiple-access manner is the multiple-access manner selected by theuser equipment from the at least two multiple-access manners accordingto the predetermined condition.

Correspondingly, the base station receives the uplink data that is sentby the user equipment in the specified multiple-access manner on thetime-frequency resource corresponding to the specified multiple-accessmanner.

Step 108: The base station sends downlink data to the user equipment ina corresponding multiple-access manner on a time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the corresponding multiple-access manner.

The base station sends the downlink data to the user equipment in thecorresponding multiple-access manner on the time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the corresponding multiple-access manner, where thecorresponding multiple-access manner is a multiple-access manner that isobtained by the base station by searching the at least twomultiple-access manners according to a prestored correspondence and thatis associated with the specified multiple-access manner.

Correspondingly, the user equipment receives the downlink data that issent by the base station in the corresponding multiple-access manner onthe time-frequency resource corresponding to the correspondingmultiple-access manner.

In conclusion, according to the communication method provided in thisembodiment, a base station receives uplink data that is sent by userequipment in a specified multiple-access manner on a time-frequencyresource corresponding to the specified multiple-access manner, wherethe specified multiple-access manner is a multiple-access mannerselected by the user equipment from at least two multiple-access mannersaccording to a predetermined condition; and sends downlink data to theuser equipment in a corresponding multiple-access manner on atime-frequency resource corresponding to the correspondingmultiple-access manner, where the corresponding multiple-access manneris a multiple-access manner that is obtained by searching the at leasttwo multiple-access manners according to a prestored correspondence andthat is associated with the specified multiple-access manner. In thisway, a problem that because one multiple-access manner is used in a samecommunications system, requirements of different user equipments cannotbe met at the same time is resolved, and an effect of meetingrequirements of different user equipments is achieved because a samecommunications system can provide multiple multiple-access manners atthe same time for selection by user equipment.

Referring to FIG. 2, FIG. 2 is a method flowchart of a communicationmethod according to another embodiment of the present invention. In thisembodiment, an example in which the communication method is applied to acommunications system including a base station and user equipment ismainly used for description. The communication method includes:

Step 201: The base station generates a correspondence between at leasttwo multiple-access manners and a time-frequency resource according to apredetermined categorization manner.

The base station generates the correspondence between the at least twomultiple-access manners and the time-frequency resource according to thepredetermined categorization manner. The predetermined categorizationmanner includes any one of three manners: categorization according to atime domain, categorization according to a frequency domain, andcategorization according to a time-frequency domain. A firstmultiple-access manner is an OFDMA multiple-access manner or an SC-FDMAmultiple-access manner, a second multiple-access manner is an OFDMA+CDMAmultiple-access manner or an SC-FDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner, and athird multiple-access manner is an OFDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner oran SC-FDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner.

In this embodiment of the present invention, that the at least twomultiple-access manners include all three of the first multiple-accessmanner, the second multiple-access manner, and the third multiple-accessmanner, the first multiple-access manner is the OFDMA multiple-accessmanner, the second multiple-access manner is the OFDMA+CDMAmultiple-access manner, and the third multiple-access manner is theOFDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner is used as an example for description.Referring to FIG. 3a , FIG. 3b , and FIG. 3c , FIG. 3a , FIG. 3b , andFIG. 3c are respectively schematic structural diagrams ofcorrespondences between three multiple-access manners and atime-frequency resource according to three different categorizationmanners of time division, frequency division, and time-frequencydivision of the base station in this embodiment of the presentinvention. The correspondences between the three multiple-access mannersand the time-frequency resource according to the three differentcategorization manners of the time division manner, the frequencydivision manner, and the time-frequency division manner of the basestation can be seen from FIG. 3a , FIG. 3b , and FIG. 3c . Specifically:

First, in the time division manner, the correspondence between the threemultiple-access manners and the time-frequency resource:

In the time division manner in FIG. 3a , the OFDMA+IDMA multiple-accessmanner may be used within a first time period, the OFDMA multiple-accessmanner may be used within a second time period, the OFDMA+CDMAmultiple-access manner may be used within a third time period, and themanners are performed in turn.

Second, in the frequency division manner, the correspondence between thethree multiple-access manners and the time-frequency resource is:

In the frequency division manner in FIG. 3b , different frequency bandsare separately occupied in the three multiple-access manners. Arelatively high frequency band may be occupied in the OFDMAmultiple-access manner, a less high frequency band may be occupied inthe OFDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner, and a relatively low frequencyband may be occupied in the OFDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner.

Third, in the time-frequency division manner, the correspondence betweenthe three multiple-access manners and the time-frequency resource:

In the time-frequency division manner in FIG. 3c , the threemultiple-access manners are used in each frequency band within each timeperiod. For example, within a first time period, different frequencybands are separately occupied and used in the OFDMA+CDMA multiple-accessmanner, the OFDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner, and the OFDMAmultiple-access manner. Within a second time period, different frequencybands are also occupied in the three multiple-access manners; however,compared with the first time period, a frequency band occupied in eachmultiple-access manner may be unchanged, or may be changed.

Step 202: The base station sends the correspondence between the at leasttwo multiple-access manners and the time-frequency resource to the userequipment according to a predetermined sending manner.

The base station sends the correspondence between the at least twomultiple-access manners and the time-frequency resource to the userequipment according to the predetermined sending manner, where thepredetermined sending manner includes: a notification by using a systembroadcast or a notification by using signaling. That is:

First, the base station sends a notification to the user equipment byusing a system broadcast, where the notification carries thecorrespondence.

The base station sends the correspondence between the threemultiple-access manners and the time-frequency resource to the userequipment in a manner of sending a notification in a system broadcast.For example, the base station sends, to the user equipment in a mannerof sending a notification in a system broadcast, the correspondencegenerated according to the predetermined categorization manner. If thepredetermined manner is categorization according to a frequency domain,the notification sent by the base station in the system broadcastincludes the correspondence between the three multiple-access mannersand the time-frequency resource shown in FIG. 3b : A relatively highfrequency band is occupied in the OFDMA multiple-access manner, a lesshigh frequency band is occupied in the OFDMA+IDMA multiple-accessmanner, and a relatively low frequency band is occupied in theOFDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner.

Second, the base station sends signaling to the user equipment, wherethe signaling carries the correspondence.

The base station sends the correspondence between the threemultiple-access manners and the time-frequency resource to the userequipment in a manner of sending signaling. For example, the basestation sends, to the user equipment in a manner of sending anotification in a system broadcast, the correspondence generatedaccording to a predetermined manner. If the predetermined manner iscategorization according to a time-frequency domain, the signaling sentby the base station includes the correspondence between the threemultiple-access manners and the time-frequency resource shown in FIG. 3c: Within a first time period, different frequency bands are separatelyoccupied and used in the OFDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner, theOFDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner, and the OFDMA multiple-access manner.Within a second time period, different frequency bands are also occupiedin the three multiple-access manners; however, compared with the firsttime period, a frequency band occupied in each multiple-access mannerwithin the second time period may be unchanged, or may be changed.

Step 203: The user equipment acquires the correspondence between the atleast two multiple-access manners and the time-frequency resource.

After the base station sends the correspondence between the at least twomultiple-access manners and the time-frequency resource to the userequipment according to the predetermined sending manner, the userequipment may receive the correspondence that is sent by the basestation according to the predetermined sending manner, where thepredetermined sending manner includes: a notification by using a systembroadcast or a notification by using signaling. Then, the user equipmentmay store the correspondence.

It should be further noted that the acquiring, by the user equipment,the correspondence between the at least two multiple-access manners andthe time-frequency resource is not limited to such an approach ofreceiving a correspondence sent by the base station. In a scenario inwhich a correspondence between at least two multiple-access manners anda time-frequency resource is agreed upon in advance, the user equipmentmay prestore the correspondence between the at least two multiple-accessmanners and the time-frequency resource. Then, when the prestoredcorrespondence needs to be used, the prestored correspondence isacquired, where the correspondence is a correspondence agreed upon inadvance.

Step 204: The user equipment selects, from the at least twomultiple-access manners according to a predetermined condition, amultiple-access manner as a specified multiple-access manner.

Three multiple-access manners separately have respective advantages. Forexample: the OFDMA multiple-access manner has an advantage of a highrate; the OFDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner has an advantage of a widecoverage area, and the OFDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner has anadvantage of suitability for transmission of a large quantity of smalldata packets. The user equipment may select a most suitablemultiple-access manner according to the predetermined condition, wherethe predetermined condition may include at least one of the following: aQOS priority of a service type, signal strength, a size of a data blockin a service type, and a multiple-access manner selection range.Specifically:

When the user equipment needs the advantage of a high rate, the firstmultiple-access manner is selected. For example, if the predeterminedcondition includes a QOS priority of a service type, the firstmultiple-access manner is selected as the specified multiple-accessmanner when the QOS (Quality of Service, quality of service) priority ofthe service type is relatively high.

When the user equipment needs the advantage of a wide coverage area, thesecond multiple-access manner is selected. For example, if thepredetermined condition includes signal strength, the secondmultiple-access manner is selected as the specified multiple-accessmanner when the signal strength is less than a first preset threshold.

When the user equipment needs to transmit a large quantity of small datapackets, the third multiple-access manner is selected. For example, ifthe predetermined condition includes a size of a data block in a servicetype, the third multiple-access manner is selected as the specifiedmultiple-access manner when the size of the data block transmitted inthe service type is less than a fourth preset threshold.

If the predetermined condition includes a multiple-access mannerselection range, the user equipment selects, from the multiple-accessmanner selection range, a multiple-access manner as the specifiedmultiple-access manner. For example, if the multiple-access mannerselection range of the user equipment is the first multiple-accessmanner and the second multiple-access manner, the user equipment canselect, only from the first multiple-access manner and the secondmultiple-access manner, a multiple-access manner as the specifiedmultiple-access manner, and cannot select the third multiple-accessmanner as the specified multiple-access manner.

Step 205: The user equipment sends uplink data to the base station inthe specified multiple-access manner on a time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the specified multiple-access manner.

The user equipment sends the uplink data to the base station in thespecified multiple-access manner on the time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the specified multiple-access manner. Specifically,after selecting the specified multiple-access manner, the user equipmentmay search, according to the acquired correspondence between the atleast two multiple-access manners and the time-frequency resource, forthe time-frequency resource corresponding to the specifiedmultiple-access manner, and then, send the uplink data to the basestation on the time-frequency resource corresponding to the specifiedmultiple-access manner.

Correspondingly, the base station receives the uplink data that is sentby the user equipment in the specified multiple-access manner on thetime-frequency resource corresponding to the specified multiple-accessmanner.

Step 206: The base station stores a one-to-one correspondence betweenthe specified multiple-access manner and a corresponding multiple-accessmanner.

Generally, the user equipment sends uplink data to the base station in amultiple-access manner, and the base station also send downlink data tothe user equipment in the same multiple-access manner when receiving theuplink data; however, if the user equipment sends uplink data to thebase station in the third multiple-access manner, because devicecomplexity required by IDMA in the third multiple-access manner isrelatively high, when the user equipment sends the uplink data to thebase station in this multiple-access manner, the base station generallysends the downlink data to the user equipment in the first or secondmultiple-access manner, to avoid increase of device complexity of theuser equipment. However, there is a one-to-one correspondence betweenthe multiple-access manner in which the user equipment sends the uplinkdata and the multiple-access manner in which the base station sends thedownlink data. After receiving the uplink data sent by the userequipment, the base station needs to send the downlink data to the userequipment in a multiple-access manner that is obtained according to thecorrespondence and that is associated with the multiple-access manner inwhich the user equipment sends the uplink data. Therefore, beforesending the downlink data to the user equipment, the base station needsto prestore a one-to-one correspondence between a specifiedmultiple-access manner and a corresponding multiple-access manner. Theforegoing one-to-one correspondence includes: if the specifiedmultiple-access manner is the first multiple-access manner, thecorresponding multiple-access manner is the first multiple-accessmanner; if the specified multiple-access manner is the secondmultiple-access manner, the corresponding multiple-access manner is thesecond multiple-access manner; and if the specified multiple-accessmanner is the third multiple-access manner, the correspondingmultiple-access manner is any one of the first multiple-access manner,the second multiple-access manner, and the third multiple-access manner.

Step 207: The base station sends downlink data to the user equipment inthe corresponding multiple-access manner on a time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the corresponding multiple-access manner.

After receiving the uplink data that is sent by the user equipment inthe specified multiple-access manner on the time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the specified multiple-access manner, the base stationsends the downlink data to the user equipment in the correspondingmultiple-access manner, associated with the specified multiple-accessmanner, on the time-frequency resource corresponding to thecorresponding multiple-access manner, where the correspondingmultiple-access manner is a multiple-access manner that is obtained bythe base station by searching the at least two multiple-access mannersaccording to the prestored correspondence and that is associated withthe specified multiple-access manner.

Correspondingly, the user equipment receives the downlink data that issent by the base station in the corresponding multiple-access manner onthe time-frequency resource corresponding to the correspondingmultiple-access manner.

In conclusion, according to the communication method provided in thisembodiment, user equipment acquires a correspondence between at leasttwo multiple-access manners and a time-frequency resource; a basestation receives uplink data that is sent by the user equipment in aspecified multiple-access manner on a time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the specified multiple-access manner; and the basestation sends downlink data to the user equipment in a correspondingmultiple-access manner on a time-frequency resource corresponding to thecorresponding multiple-access manner. In this way, a problem thatbecause one multiple-access manner is used in a same communicationssystem, requirements of different user equipments cannot be met at thesame time is resolved, and an effect of meeting requirements ofdifferent user equipments is achieved because a same communicationssystem can provide multiple multiple-access manners at the same time forselection by user equipment. In addition, the base station prestores aone-to-one correspondence between the specified multiple-access mannerand the corresponding multiple-access manner, so that after receivingthe uplink data sent by the user equipment, the base station can sendthe downlink data to the user equipment in the correspondingmultiple-access manner, which is obtained according to the prestoredone-to-one correspondence and is associated with the specifiedmultiple-access manner, on the time-frequency resource corresponding tothe corresponding multiple-access manner. In this way, a problem thatbecause the base station sends the downlink data in a mannerunidentifiable by the user equipment, communication is interrupted isresolved, and an effect of ensuring smoothness of a communicationprocess without significantly increasing device complexity of the userequipment is achieved.

Referring to FIG. 4, FIG. 4 is a method flowchart of a communicationmethod according to another embodiment of the present invention. In thisembodiment, an example in which the communication method is applied to acommunications system including a base station and user equipment ismainly used for description. The communication method includes:

Step 401: The base station sends signaling used for configuring amultiple-access manner selection range to the user equipment.

In an actual communications system, the base station does not need toprovide two or three selectable multiple-access manners to each userequipment, because some user equipments only need to use onemultiple-access manner to receive and send data. For example, userequipment located in a basement or a mine may neither need high-ratedata transmission nor need to transmit a large quantity of small datapackets throughout, and only a coverage area needs to be ensured. Inthis case, the user equipment only needs to use an OFDMA multiple-accessmanner throughout. However, some user equipments need to use a pluralityof multiple-access manners to receive and send data, for example, userequipment that has varied service types and often moves to differentregions for use. In this case, the user equipment may select, frommultiple-access manners that can be provided by the base station, anoptimal multiple-access manner as required, to exchange information withthe base station.

Therefore, before the base station communicates with the user equipment,the base station needs to send the signaling used for configuring themultiple-access manner selection range to the user equipment, where themultiple-access manner selection range is a selectable range when theuser equipment selects a multiple-access manner from at least twomultiple-access manners. For example, in a communications system, onlyspecific user equipment is allowed to communicate with the base stationby using a first multiple-access manner and a second multiple-accessmanner, or configuration of the user equipment supports only a firstmultiple-access manner and a second multiple-access manner; therefore,before the base station communicates with the user equipment, the basestation sends the signaling used for configuring the multiple-accessmanner selection range to the user equipment, where the signaling isused for notifying the user equipment that a selectable multiple-accessmanner range is the first multiple-access manner or the secondmultiple-access manner.

In this embodiment of the present invention, that the at least twomultiple-access manners include all three of the first multiple-accessmanner, the second multiple-access manner, and a third multiple-accessmanner is still used as an example for description, where the firstmultiple-access manner is an OFDMA multiple-access manner or an SC-FDMAmultiple-access manner, the second multiple-access manner is anOFDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner or an SC-FDMA+CDMA multiple-accessmanner, and the third multiple-access manner is an OFDMA+IDMAmultiple-access manner or an SC-FDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner. Inthis embodiment of the present invention, that the first multiple-accessmanner is the OFDMA multiple-access manner, the second multiple-accessmanner is the OFDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner, and the thirdmultiple-access manner is the OFDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner is usedas an example for description.

Correspondingly, the user equipment receives the signaling that is usedfor configuring the multiple-access manner selection range and that issent by the base station.

Step 402: The user equipment stores the multiple-access manner selectionrange configured by using the signaling.

After receiving the signaling that is used for configuring themultiple-access manner selection range and that is sent by the basestation, the user equipment stores the multiple-access manner selectionrange that is configured by using the signaling sent by the basestation.

In another implementation, the multiple-access manner selection rangemay also be agreed upon in advance. In this case, the user equipmentprestores the multiple-access manner selection range, where themultiple-access manner selection range is a multiple-access mannerselection range agreed upon in advance.

Step 403: The base station generates a correspondence between at leasttwo multiple-access manners and a time-frequency resource according to apredetermined categorization manner.

The base station generates the correspondence between the at least twomultiple-access manners and the time-frequency resource according to thepredetermined categorization manner. The predetermined categorizationmanner includes any one of three manners: categorization according to atime domain, categorization according to a frequency domain, andcategorization according to a time-frequency domain.

Referring to FIG. 3a , FIG. 3b , and FIG. 3c , FIG. 3a , FIG. 3b , andFIG. 3c are respectively schematic structural diagrams ofcorrespondences between three multiple-access manners and thetime-frequency resource according to three different categorizationmanners of a time division manner, a frequency division manner, and atime-frequency division manner of the base station in this embodiment ofthe present invention. The correspondences between the threemultiple-access manners and the time-frequency resource in threedifferent categorization manners of the time division manner, thefrequency division manner, and the time-frequency division mannerprovided by the base station can be seen from FIG. 3a , FIG. 3b , andFIG. 3 c.

Step 404: The base station sends the correspondence between the at leasttwo multiple-access manners and the time-frequency resource to the userequipment according to a predetermined sending manner.

The base station sends the correspondence between the at least twomultiple-access manners and the time-frequency resource to the userequipment according to the predetermined sending manner, where thepredetermined sending manner includes: a notification by using a systembroadcast or a notification by using signaling.

Step 405: The user equipment acquires the correspondence between the atleast two multiple-access manners and the time-frequency resource.

After the base station sends the correspondence between the at least twomultiple-access manners and the time-frequency resource to the userequipment according to the predetermined sending manner, the userequipment may receive the correspondence that is sent by the basestation according to the predetermined sending manner, where thepredetermined sending manner includes: a notification by using a systembroadcast or a notification by using signaling. Then, the user equipmentmay store the correspondence.

It should be further noted that the acquiring, by the user equipment,the correspondence between the at least two multiple-access manners andthe time-frequency resource is not limited to such an approach ofreceiving a correspondence sent by the base station. In a scenario inwhich a correspondence between at least two multiple-access manners anda time-frequency resource is agreed upon in advance, the user equipmentmay prestore the correspondence between the at least two multiple-accessmanners and the time-frequency resource. Then, when the prestoredcorrespondence needs to be used, the prestored correspondence isacquired, where the correspondence is a correspondence agreed upon inadvance.

Step 406: The user equipment selects, from the at least twomultiple-access manners according to a predetermined condition, amultiple-access manner as a specified multiple-access manner.

Three multiple-access manners separately have respective advantages. Forexample, the OFDMA multiple-access manner has an advantage of a highrate, the OFDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner has an advantage of a widecoverage area, and the OFDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner has anadvantage of suitability for transmission of a large quantity of smalldata packets. The user equipment may select a most suitablemultiple-access manner according to the predetermined condition.Specifically:

When the user equipment needs the advantage of a high rate, the firstmultiple-access manner is selected. For example, if the predeterminedcondition includes a QOS priority of a service type, the firstmultiple-access manner is selected as the specified multiple-accessmanner when the QOS (quality of service) priority of the service type isrelatively high.

When the user equipment needs the advantage of a wide coverage area, thesecond multiple-access manner is selected. For example, if thepredetermined condition includes signal strength, the secondmultiple-access manner is selected as the specified multiple-accessmanner when the signal strength is less than a first preset threshold.

When the user equipment needs to transmit a large quantity of small datapackets, the third multiple-access manner is selected. For example, ifthe predetermined condition includes a size of a data block in a servicetype, the third multiple-access manner is selected as the specifiedmultiple-access manner when the size of the data block transmitted inthe service type is less than a fourth preset threshold.

In this embodiment, the predetermined condition includes themultiple-access manner selection range, and the user equipment canselect, only from the multiple-access manner selection range, amultiple-access manner as the specified multiple-access manner.

Step 407: The user equipment sends uplink data to the base station inthe specified multiple-access manner on a time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the specified multiple-access manner.

The user equipment sends the uplink data to the base station in thespecified multiple-access manner on the time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the specified multiple-access manner.

Correspondingly, the base station receives the uplink data that is sentby the user equipment in the specified multiple-access manner on thetime-frequency resource corresponding to the specified multiple-accessmanner.

Step 408: The base station searches for a corresponding multiple-accessmanner corresponding to a specified multiple-access manner that is mostrecently used by the user equipment.

Generally, a multiple-access manner in which the user equipment sendsthe uplink data to the base station does not change. However, if anenvironment in which the user equipment is located changes, or arequirement for a communications system changes, during a communicationprocess, the multiple-access manner in which the user equipment sendsthe uplink data to the base station changes; therefore, after receivingthe uplink data that is sent by the user equipment in the specifiedmultiple-access manner on the time-frequency resource corresponding tothe specified multiple-access manner, the base station searches for thecorresponding multiple-access manner corresponding to the specifiedmultiple-access manner that is most recently used by the user equipment.For example, if the specified multiple-access manner that is mostrecently used by the user equipment is the first multiple-access manner,the corresponding multiple-access manner found by the base station isthe first multiple-access manner. Before this step, the base station maystore a one-to-one correspondence between the specified multiple-accessmanner and the corresponding multiple-access manner. The one-to-onecorrespondence may include: if the specified multiple-access manner isthe first multiple-access manner, the corresponding multiple-accessmanner is the first multiple-access manner; if the specifiedmultiple-access manner is the second multiple-access manner, thecorresponding multiple-access manner is the second multiple-accessmanner; and if the specified multiple-access manner is the thirdmultiple-access manner, the corresponding multiple-access manner is anyone of the first multiple-access manner, the second multiple-accessmanner, and the third multiple-access manner.

Step 409: The base station sends downlink data to the user equipment inthe found corresponding multiple-access manner on a time-frequencyresource corresponding to the corresponding multiple-access manner.

After receiving the uplink data that is sent by the user equipment inthe specified multiple-access manner on the time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the specified multiple-access manner, the base stationsearches for the corresponding multiple-access manner corresponding tothe specified multiple-access manner that is most recently used by theuser equipment, and sends, on the time-frequency resource correspondingto the corresponding multiple-access manner, the downlink data to theuser equipment in the corresponding multiple-access manner correspondingto the specified multiple-access manner. For example, if the specifiedmultiple-access manner that is most recently used by the user equipmentis the first multiple-access manner, the corresponding multiple-accessmanner found by the base station is the first multiple-access manner,and the base station sends the downlink data to the user equipment inthe found first multiple-access manner on the time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the first multiple-access manner.

Correspondingly, the user equipment receives the downlink data that issent by the base station in the corresponding multiple-access manner onthe time-frequency resource corresponding to the correspondingmultiple-access manner.

Step 410: After receiving the downlink data sent by the base station,the user equipment sends a receiving feedback to the base station.

After receiving the downlink data sent by the base station, the userequipment sends the receiving feedback to the base station. Thereceiving feedback is used to identify that the user equipment hasreceived the downlink data sent by the base station.

Correspondingly, the base station receives the receiving feedback sentby the user equipment.

Step 411: If the base station does not receive the receiving feedback ofthe user equipment for the downlink data, the base station sends thedownlink data again to the user equipment in another multiple-accessmanner different from the corresponding multiple-access manner in the atleast two multiple-access manners.

In a case of normal communication, after sending the downlink data tothe user equipment, the base station receives the receiving feedbacksent by the user equipment. If the base station does not receive thereceiving feedback of the user equipment for the downlink data, itindicates that the user equipment does not receive the downlink datasent by the base station, and therefore, the base station sends thedownlink data again to the user equipment in another multiple-accessmanner different from the corresponding multiple-access manner in thefirst multiple-access manner, the second multiple-access manner, and thethird multiple-access manner. For example, if the correspondingmultiple-access manner is the first multiple-access manner, if the basestation does not receive the receiving feedback of the user equipmentfor the downlink data, the downlink data is sent again to the userequipment in the second multiple-access manner on a time-frequencyresource corresponding to the second multiple-access manner; and if thebase station still does not receive the receiving feedback of the userequipment for the downlink data, the base station sends the downlinkdata again to the user equipment in the third multiple-access manner ona time-frequency resource corresponding to the third multiple-accessmanner, until the base station receives the receiving feedback of theuser equipment for the downlink data.

Step 412: The user equipment determines, at each predetermined timeinterval, whether a currently used specified multiple-access mannerstill satisfies the predetermined condition.

The user equipment may be in a moving state, and may be in a differentenvironment at each time period, or a factor that impedes communicationoccurs during a communication process of the user equipment, leading toa case in which the predetermined condition may be no longer satisfied;therefore, the user equipment determines, at each predetermined timeinterval, whether the currently used specified multiple-access mannerstill satisfies the predetermined condition.

If a determining result is that the currently used specifiedmultiple-access manner still satisfies the predetermined condition, thecurrently used specified multiple-access manner is kept unchanged.

Step 413: If a determining result is that the currently used specifiedmultiple-access manner does not satisfy the predetermined condition,select again, from the at least two multiple-access manners according tothe predetermined condition, a multiple-access manner as the specifiedmultiple-access manner.

In conclusion, according to the communication method provided in thisembodiment, user equipment acquires a correspondence between at leasttwo multiple-access manners and a time-frequency resource; a basestation receives uplink data that is sent by the user equipment in aspecified multiple-access manner on a time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the specified multiple-access manner; and the basestation sends downlink data to the user equipment in a correspondingmultiple-access manner on a time-frequency resource corresponding to thecorresponding multiple-access manner. In this way, a problem thatbecause one multiple-access manner is used in a same communicationssystem, requirements of different user equipments cannot be met at thesame time is resolved, and an effect of meeting requirements ofdifferent user equipments is achieved because a same communicationssystem can provide multiple multiple-access manners at the same time forselection by user equipment. In addition, the base station prestores aone-to-one correspondence between the specified multiple-access mannerand the corresponding multiple-access manner, so that after receivingthe uplink data sent by the user equipment, the base station can sendthe downlink data to the user equipment in the correspondingmultiple-access manner, which is obtained according to the prestoredone-to-one correspondence and is associated with the specifiedmultiple-access manner, on the time-frequency resource corresponding tothe corresponding multiple-access manner. In this way, a problem thatbecause the base station sends the downlink data in a mannerunidentifiable by the user equipment, communication is interrupted isresolved, and an effect of ensuring smoothness of a communicationprocess without significantly increasing device complexity of the userequipment is achieved. In addition, it is checked at every fixed timeinterval whether a currently used multiple-access manner still satisfiesa predetermined condition, to determine whether the multiple-accessmanner needs to be changed, so as to ensure quality of communicationmore preferably during a communication process.

Apparatus embodiments of the present invention are provided in thefollowing, and can be configured to execute the method embodiments ofthe present invention. For technical details that are not disclosed inthe apparatus embodiments of the present invention, refer to the methodembodiments of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of acommunications system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. The communications system includes: a base station 510 anduser equipment 550.

The base station 510 includes: an uplink receiving module 512 and adownlink sending module 514.

The uplink receiving module 512 receives uplink data that is sent by theuser equipment in a specified multiple-access manner on a time-frequencyresource corresponding to the specified multiple-access manner, wherethe specified multiple-access manner is a multiple-access mannerselected by the user equipment from at least two multiple-access mannersaccording to a predetermined condition.

The downlink sending module 514 is configured to send downlink data tothe user equipment in a corresponding multiple-access manner on atime-frequency resource corresponding to the correspondingmultiple-access manner, where the corresponding multiple-access manneris a multiple-access manner that is obtained by searching the at leasttwo multiple-access manners according to a prestored correspondence andthat is associated with the specified multiple-access manner received bythe uplink receiving module 512.

The user equipment 550 includes: a relationship acquiring module 552, amanner selection module 554, an uplink sending module 556, and adownlink receiving module 558.

The relationship acquiring module 552 is configured to acquire acorrespondence between at least two multiple-access manners and atime-frequency resource.

The manner selection module 554 is configured to select, according tothe predetermined condition from the at least two multiple-accessmanners acquired by the relationship acquiring module 552, amultiple-access manner as the specified multiple-access manner.

The uplink sending module 556 is configured to send the uplink data tothe base station in the specified multiple-access manner, selected bythe manner selection module 554, on the time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the specified multiple-access manner.

The downlink receiving module 558 is configured to receive the downlinkdata that is sent by the base station in the correspondingmultiple-access manner on the time-frequency resource corresponding tothe corresponding multiple-access manner, where the correspondingmultiple-access manner is a multiple-access manner that is obtained bythe base station by searching the at least two multiple-access mannersaccording to the prestored correspondence and that is associated withthe specified multiple-access manner.

The at least two multiple-access manners include at least two of a firstmultiple-access manner, a second multiple-access manner, and a thirdmultiple-access manner, the first multiple-access manner is anOrthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access OFDMA multiple-accessmanner or a Single-carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access SC-FDMAmultiple-access manner, the second multiple-access manner is anOFDMA+Code Division Multiple Access CDMA multiple-access manner or anSC-FDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner, and the third multiple-accessmanner is an OFDMA+Interleaver-Division Multiple Access IDMAmultiple-access manner or an SC-FDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner.

In conclusion, according to the communications system provided in thisembodiment, a base station receives uplink data that is sent by userequipment in a specified multiple-access manner on a time-frequencyresource corresponding to the specified multiple-access manner, wherethe specified multiple-access manner is a multiple-access mannerselected by the user equipment from at least two multiple-access mannersaccording to a predetermined condition; and sends downlink data to theuser equipment in a corresponding multiple-access manner on atime-frequency resource corresponding to the correspondingmultiple-access manner, where the corresponding multiple-access manneris a multiple-access manner that is obtained by searching the at leasttwo multiple-access manners according to a prestored correspondence andthat is associated with the specified multiple-access manner. In thisway, a problem that because one multiple-access manner is used in a samecommunications system, requirements of different user equipments cannotbe met at the same time is resolved, and an effect of meetingrequirements of different user equipments is achieved because a samecommunications system can provide multiple multiple-access manners atthe same time for selection by user equipment.

Referring to FIG. 6, FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of acommunications system according to another embodiment of the presentinvention. The communications system includes: a base station 610 anduser equipment 650.

The base station 610 includes: a relationship generating module 611, arelationship sending module 612, an uplink receiving module 613, arelationship storage module 614, and a downlink sending module 615.

The relationship generating module 611 is configured to generate acorrespondence between at least two multiple-access manners and atime-frequency resource according to a predetermined categorizationmanner, where the predetermined categorization manner includes any oneof three manners: categorization according to a time domain,categorization according to a frequency domain, and categorizationaccording to a time-frequency domain, a first multiple-access manner isan OFDMA multiple-access manner or an SC-FDMA multiple-access manner, asecond multiple-access manner is an OFDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner oran SC-FDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner, and a third multiple-accessmanner is an OFDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner or an SC-FDMA+IDMAmultiple-access manner.

The relationship sending module 612 is configured to send thecorrespondence, generated by the relationship generating module 611,between the at least two multiple-access manners and the time-frequencyresource to the user equipment according to a predetermined sendingmanner, where the predetermined sending manner includes: a notificationby using a system broadcast or a notification by using signaling.

The uplink receiving module 613 is configured to receive uplink datathat is sent by the user equipment in a specified multiple-access manneron a time-frequency resource corresponding to the specifiedmultiple-access manner, where the specified multiple-access manner is amultiple-access manner selected by the user equipment from the at leasttwo multiple-access manners according to a predetermined condition.

The relationship storage module 614 is configured to store a one-to-onecorrespondence between the specified multiple-access manner and acorresponding multiple-access manner, where the one-to-onecorrespondence includes:

if the specified multiple-access manner is the first multiple-accessmanner, the corresponding multiple-access manner is the firstmultiple-access manner;

if the specified multiple-access manner is the second multiple-accessmanner, the corresponding multiple-access manner is the secondmultiple-access manner; and

if the specified multiple-access manner is the third multiple-accessmanner, the corresponding multiple-access manner is any one of the firstmultiple-access manner, the second multiple-access manner, and the thirdmultiple-access manner.

The downlink sending module 615 is configured to send downlink data tothe user equipment in the corresponding multiple-access manner on atime-frequency resource corresponding to the correspondingmultiple-access manner, where the corresponding multiple-access manneris a multiple-access manner that is obtained by searching the at leasttwo multiple-access manners according to the prestored correspondenceand that is associated with the specified multiple-access mannerreceived by the uplink receiving module 613.

The user equipment 650 includes: a relationship acquiring module 652, amanner selection module 654, an uplink sending module 656, and adownlink receiving module 658.

The relationship acquiring module 652 is configured to acquire thecorrespondence between the at least two multiple-access manners and thetime-frequency resource.

The manner selection module 654 is configured to select, from the atleast two multiple-access manners according to the predeterminedcondition, a multiple-access manner as the specified multiple-accessmanner. The predetermined condition includes one of or a combination ofmore than one of a QOS priority of a service type, signal strength, asize of a data block in a service type, and a multiple-access mannerselection range.

Specifically, the manner selection module 654 specifically includes: atleast one of a first selection unit 654 a, a second selection unit 654b, a third selection unit 654 c, and a fourth selection unit 654 d.

The first selection unit 654 a is configured to: if the predeterminedcondition includes a QOS priority of a service type, select the firstmultiple-access manner as the specified multiple-access manner when theQOS priority of the service type is relatively high.

The second selection unit 654 b is configured to: if the predeterminedcondition includes signal strength, select the second multiple-accessmanner as the specified multiple-access manner when the signal strengthis less than a first preset threshold.

The third selection unit 654 c is configured to: if the predeterminedcondition includes a size of a data block in a service type, select thethird multiple-access manner as the specified multiple-access mannerwhen the size of the data block transmitted in the service type is lessthan a fourth preset threshold.

The fourth selection unit 654 d is configured to: if the predeterminedcondition includes a multiple-access manner selection range, select,from a selectable range defined in the multiple-access manner selectionrange, a multiple-access manner as the specified multiple-access manner.

The uplink sending module 656 is configured to send the uplink data tothe base station in the specified multiple-access manner, selected bythe manner selection module 654, on the time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the specified multiple-access manner.

The downlink receiving module 658 is configured to receive the downlinkdata that is sent by the base station in the correspondingmultiple-access manner on the time-frequency resource corresponding tothe corresponding multiple-access manner, where the correspondingmultiple-access manner is a multiple-access manner that is obtained bythe base station by searching the at least two multiple-access mannersaccording to the prestored correspondence and that is associated withthe specified multiple-access manner.

In conclusion, according to the communications system provided in thisembodiment, user equipment acquires a correspondence between at leasttwo multiple-access manners and a time-frequency resource; a basestation receives uplink data that is sent by the user equipment in aspecified multiple-access manner on a time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the specified multiple-access manner; and the basestation sends downlink data to the user equipment in a correspondingmultiple-access manner on a time-frequency resource corresponding to thecorresponding multiple-access manner. In this way, a problem thatbecause one multiple-access manner is used in a same communicationssystem, requirements of different user equipments cannot be met at thesame time is resolved, and an effect of meeting requirements ofdifferent user equipments is achieved because a same communicationssystem can provide multiple multiple-access manners at the same time forselection by user equipment. In addition, the base station prestores aone-to-one correspondence between the specified multiple-access mannerand the corresponding multiple-access manner, so that after receivingthe uplink data sent by the user equipment, the base station can sendthe downlink data to the user equipment in the correspondingmultiple-access manner, which is obtained according to the prestoredone-to-one correspondence and is associated with the specifiedmultiple-access manner, on the time-frequency resource corresponding tothe corresponding multiple-access manner. In this way, a problem thatbecause the base station sends the downlink data in a mannerunidentifiable by the user equipment, communication is interrupted isresolved, and an effect of ensuring smoothness of a communicationprocess without significantly increasing device complexity of the userequipment is achieved.

Referring to FIG. 7, FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of acommunications system according to another embodiment of the presentinvention. The communications system includes: a base station 710 anduser equipment 750.

The base station 710 includes: a signaling sending module 711, arelationship generating module 712, a relationship sending module 713,an uplink receiving module 714, a relationship storage module 715, adownlink sending module 716, a feedback receiving module 717, and aresending module 718.

The signaling sending module 711 is configured to send signaling usedfor configuring a multiple-access manner selection range to the userequipment, where the multiple-access manner selection range is aselectable range when the user equipment selects a multiple-accessmanner from at least two multiple-access manners according to apredetermined condition. The at least two multiple-access mannersinclude any two or all three of a first multiple-access manner, a secondmultiple-access manner, and a third multiple-access manner, the firstmultiple-access manner is an Orthogonal Frequency Division MultipleAccess OFDMA multiple-access manner or a Single-carrierFrequency-Division Multiple Access SC-FDMA multiple-access manner, thesecond multiple-access manner is an OFDMA+Code Division Multiple AccessCDMA multiple-access manner or an SC-FDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner,and the third multiple-access manner is an OFDMA+Interleaver-DivisionMultiple Access IDMA multiple-access manner or an SC-FDMA+IDMAmultiple-access manner.

The relationship generating module 712 is configured to generate acorrespondence between at least two multiple-access manners and atime-frequency resource according to a predetermined categorizationmanner, where the predetermined categorization manner includes any oneof three manners: categorization according to a time domain,categorization according to a frequency domain, and categorizationaccording to a time-frequency domain.

The relationship sending module 713 is configured to send thecorrespondence between the at least two multiple-access manners and thetime-frequency resource to the user equipment according to apredetermined sending manner, where the predetermined sending mannerincludes: a notification by using a system broadcast or a notificationby using signaling.

The uplink receiving module 714 is configured to receive uplink datathat is sent by the user equipment in a specified multiple-access manneron a time-frequency resource corresponding to the specifiedmultiple-access manner, where the specified multiple-access manner is amultiple-access manner selected by the user equipment from the at leasttwo multiple-access manners according to the predetermined condition.

The relationship storage module 715 is configured to store a one-to-onecorrespondence between the specified multiple-access manner and acorresponding multiple-access manner, where the one-to-onecorrespondence includes: if the specified multiple-access manner is thefirst multiple-access manner, the corresponding multiple-access manneris the first multiple-access manner; if the specified multiple-accessmanner is the second multiple-access manner, the correspondingmultiple-access manner is the second multiple-access manner; and if thespecified multiple-access manner is the third multiple-access manner,the corresponding multiple-access manner is any one of the firstmultiple-access manner, the second multiple-access manner, and the thirdmultiple-access manner.

The downlink sending module 716 is configured to send downlink data tothe user equipment in the corresponding multiple-access manner on atime-frequency resource corresponding to the correspondingmultiple-access manner, where the corresponding multiple-access manneris a multiple-access manner that is obtained by searching the at leasttwo multiple-access manners according to the correspondence prestored bythe relationship storage module 715 and that is associated with thespecified multiple-access manner received by the uplink receiving module714.

Specifically, the downlink sending module 716 specifically includes: asearch unit 716 a and a sending unit 716 b.

The search unit 716 a is configured to search for a correspondingmultiple-access manner corresponding to a specified multiple-accessmanner that is most recently used by the user equipment.

The sending unit 716 b is configured to send the downlink data to theuser equipment in the corresponding multiple-access manner, found by thesearch unit 716 a, on the time-frequency resource corresponding to thecorresponding multiple-access manner.

The feedback receiving module 717 is configured to receive a receivingfeedback sent by the user equipment.

The resending module 718 is configured to: if the feedback receivingmodule 717 does not receive the receiving feedback of the user equipmentfor the downlink data, send the downlink data again to the userequipment on a time-frequency resource corresponding to anothermultiple-access manner different from the corresponding multiple-accessmanner in the at least two multiple-access manners.

The user equipment 750 includes: an agreement storage module 751, asignaling receiving module 752, a storage module 753, a relationshipacquiring module 754, a manner selection module 755, an uplink sendingmodule 756, a downlink receiving module 757, a feedback sending module758, a re-receiving module 759, a determining module 760, a keepingmodule 761, and a reselection module 762.

The agreement storage module 751 is configured to prestore themultiple-access manner selection range agreed upon in advance.

The signaling receiving module 752 is configured to receive signalingthat is used for configuring the multiple-access manner selection rangeand that is sent by the base station.

The storage module 753 is configured to store the multiple-access mannerselection range configured by using the signaling that is sent by thebase station and that is received by the signaling receiving module 752.It should be noted that, when the user equipment 750 includes theagreement storage module 751, the user equipment 750 may not include thesignaling receiving module 752 or the storage module 753; when the userequipment 750 includes the signaling receiving module 752 and thestorage module 753, the user equipment 750 may not include the agreementstorage module 751.

The relationship acquiring module 754 is configured to acquire thecorrespondence between the at least two multiple-access manners and thetime-frequency resource.

Specifically, the relationship acquiring module 754 specificallyincludes:

an agreement acquiring unit 754 a, configured to acquire the prestoredcorrespondence, where the correspondence is a correspondence agreed uponin advance;

or, a relationship receiving unit 754 b, configured to receive thecorrespondence that is sent by the base station according to apredetermined sending manner, where the predetermined sending mannerincludes: a notification by using a system broadcast or a notificationby using signaling.

The manner selection module 755 is configured to select, according tothe predetermined condition from the at least two multiple-accessmanners acquired by the relationship acquiring module 754, amultiple-access manner as the specified multiple-access manner. Thepredetermined condition includes at least one of the following: a QOSpriority of a service type, signal strength, a size of a data block in aservice type, and a multiple-access manner selection range.

Specifically, the manner selection module 755 specifically includes:

at least one of a first selection unit 755 a, a second selection unit755 b, a third selection unit 755 c, and a fourth selection unit 755 d.

The first selection unit 755 a is configured to: if the predeterminedcondition includes a QOS priority of a service type, select the firstmultiple-access manner as the specified multiple-access manner when theQOS priority of the service type is relatively high.

The second selection unit 755 b is configured to: if the predeterminedcondition includes signal strength, select the second multiple-accessmanner as the specified multiple-access manner when the signal strengthis less than a first preset threshold.

The third selection unit 755 c is configured to: if the predeterminedcondition includes a size of a data block in a service type, select thethird multiple-access manner as the specified multiple-access mannerwhen the size of the data block transmitted in the service type is lessthan a fourth preset threshold.

The fourth selection unit 755 d is configured to: if the predeterminedcondition includes a multiple-access manner selection range, select,from a selectable range defined in the multiple-access manner selectionrange stored in the agreement storage module 751 or the storage module753, a multiple-access manner as the specified multiple-access manner.

The uplink sending module 756 is configured to send uplink data to abase station in the specified multiple-access manner, selected by themanner selection module 755, on the time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the specified multiple-access manner.

The downlink receiving module 757 is configured to receive downlink datathat is sent by the base station in the corresponding multiple-accessmanner on the time-frequency resource corresponding to the correspondingmultiple-access manner, where the corresponding multiple-access manneris a multiple-access manner that is obtained by the base station bysearching the at least two multiple-access manners according to theprestored correspondence and that is associated with the specifiedmultiple-access manner.

The feedback sending module 758 is configured to send a receivingfeedback to the base station after the downlink receiving module 757receives the downlink data.

The re-receiving module 759 is configured to receive the downlink datasent again by the base station, where the downlink data sent again issent, after the base station does not receive the receiving feedback ofthe user equipment for the downlink data sent in the correspondingmultiple-access manner on the time-frequency resource corresponding tothe corresponding multiple-access manner, to the user equipment again inanother multiple-access manner different from the correspondingmultiple-access manner in the at least two multiple-access manners.

The determining module 760 is configured to determine, at eachpredetermined time interval, whether a currently used specifiedmultiple-access manner still satisfies the predetermined condition.

The keeping module 761 is configured to: if a determining result of thedetermining module 760 is that the currently used specifiedmultiple-access manner still satisfies the predetermined condition, keepthe currently used specified multiple-access manner unchanged.

The reselection module 762 is configured to: if the determining resultof the determining module 760 is that the currently used specifiedmultiple-access manner does not satisfy the predetermined condition,select again, from the at least two multiple-access manners according tothe predetermined condition, a multiple-access manner as the specifiedmultiple-access manner.

In conclusion, according to the communications system provided in thisembodiment, user equipment acquires a correspondence between at leasttwo multiple-access manners and a time-frequency resource; a basestation receives uplink data that is sent by the user equipment in aspecified multiple-access manner on a time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the specified multiple-access manner; and the basestation sends downlink data to the user equipment in a correspondingmultiple-access manner on a time-frequency resource corresponding to thecorresponding multiple-access manner. In this way, a problem thatbecause one multiple-access manner is used in a same communicationssystem, requirements of different user equipments cannot be met at thesame time is resolved, and an effect of meeting requirements ofdifferent user equipments is achieved because a same communicationssystem can provide multiple multiple-access manners at the same time forselection by user equipment. In addition, the base station prestores aone-to-one correspondence between the specified multiple-access mannerand the corresponding multiple-access manner, so that after receivingthe uplink data sent by the user equipment, the base station can sendthe downlink data to the user equipment in the correspondingmultiple-access manner, which is obtained according to the prestoredone-to-one correspondence and is associated with the specifiedmultiple-access manner, on the time-frequency resource corresponding tothe corresponding multiple-access manner. In this way, a problem thatbecause the base station sends the downlink data in a mannerunidentifiable by the user equipment, communication is interrupted isresolved, and an effect of ensuring smoothness of a communicationprocess without significantly increasing device complexity of the userequipment is achieved. In addition, it is checked at every fixed timeinterval whether a currently used multiple-access manner still satisfiesa predetermined condition, to determine whether the multiple-accessmanner needs to be changed, so as to ensure quality of communicationmore preferably during a communication process.

Referring to FIG. 8, FIG. 8 is a structural block diagram of acommunications system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. The communications system includes: a base station 810 anduser equipment 850.

The base station 810 includes: a processor 811, a receiver 812, and atransmitter 813.

The receiver 812 is configured to receive uplink data that is sent bythe user equipment in a specified multiple-access manner on atime-frequency resource corresponding to the specified multiple-accessmanner, where the specified multiple-access manner is a multiple-accessmanner selected by the user equipment from at least two multiple-accessmanners according to a predetermined condition.

The transmitter 813 is configured to send downlink data to the userequipment in a corresponding multiple-access manner on a time-frequencyresource corresponding to the corresponding multiple-access manner,where the corresponding multiple-access manner is a multiple-accessmanner that is obtained by the processor 811 by searching the at leasttwo multiple-access manners according to a prestored correspondence andthat is associated with the specified multiple-access manner.

The at least two multiple-access manners include at least two of a firstmultiple-access manner, a second multiple-access manner, and a thirdmultiple-access manner, the first multiple-access manner is anOrthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access OFDMA multiple-accessmanner or a Single-carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access SC-FDMAmultiple-access manner, the second multiple-access manner is anOFDMA+Code Division Multiple Access CDMA multiple-access manner or anSC-FDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner, and the third multiple-accessmanner is an OFDMA+Interleaver-Division Multiple Access IDMAmultiple-access manner or an SC-FDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner.

The user equipment 850 includes: a processor 851, a transmitter 852, anda receiver 853.

The processor 851 is configured to acquire a correspondence between atleast two multiple-access manners and a time-frequency resource.

The processor 851 is further configured to select, from the at least twomultiple-access manners according to the predetermined condition, amultiple-access manner as the specified multiple-access manner.

The transmitter 852 is configured to send the uplink data to the basestation in the specified multiple-access manner, selected by theprocessor 851, on the time-frequency resource corresponding to thespecified multiple-access manner.

The receiver 853 is configured to receive the downlink data that is sentby the base station in the corresponding multiple-access manner on thetime-frequency resource corresponding to the correspondingmultiple-access manner, where the corresponding multiple-access manneris a multiple-access manner that is obtained by the base station bysearching the at least two multiple-access manners according to theprestored correspondence and that is associated with the specifiedmultiple-access manner.

In conclusion, according to the communications system provided in thisembodiment, a base station receives uplink data that is sent by userequipment in a specified multiple-access manner on a time-frequencyresource corresponding to the specified multiple-access manner, wherethe specified multiple-access manner is a multiple-access mannerselected by the user equipment from at least two multiple-access mannersaccording to a predetermined condition; and sends downlink data to theuser equipment in a corresponding multiple-access manner on atime-frequency resource corresponding to the correspondingmultiple-access manner, where the corresponding multiple-access manneris a multiple-access manner that is obtained by searching the at leasttwo multiple-access manners according to a prestored correspondence andthat is associated with the specified multiple-access manner. In thisway, a problem that because one multiple-access manner is used in a samecommunications system, requirements of different user equipments cannotbe met at the same time is resolved, and an effect of meetingrequirements of different user equipments is achieved because a samecommunications system can provide multiple multiple-access manners atthe same time for selection by user equipment.

Referring to FIG. 9, FIG. 9 is a structural block diagram of acommunications system according to another embodiment of the presentinvention. The communications system includes: a base station 910 anduser equipment 950.

The base station 910 includes: a processor 911, a receiver 912, a memory913, and a transmitter 914.

The processor 911 is configured to generate a correspondence between atleast two multiple-access manners and a time-frequency resourceaccording to a predetermined categorization manner, where thepredetermined categorization manner includes any one of three manners:categorization according to a time domain, categorization according to afrequency domain, and categorization according to a time-frequencydomain, the at least two multiple-access manners include at least two ofa first multiple-access manner, a second multiple-access manner, and athird multiple-access manner, the first multiple-access manner is anOrthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access OFDMA multiple-accessmanner or a Single-carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access SC-FDMAmultiple-access manner, the second multiple-access manner is anOFDMA+Code Division Multiple Access CDMA multiple-access manner or anSC-FDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner, and the third multiple-accessmanner is an OFDMA+Interleaver-Division Multiple Access IDMAmultiple-access manner or an SC-FDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner.

The transmitter is further configured to send the correspondence betweenthe at least two multiple-access manners and the time-frequency resourceto the user equipment according to a predetermined sending manner, wherethe predetermined sending manner includes: a notification by using asystem broadcast or a notification by using signaling.

The receiver 912 is configured to receive uplink data that is sent bythe user equipment in a specified multiple-access manner on atime-frequency resource corresponding to the specified multiple-accessmanner, where the specified multiple-access manner is a multiple-accessmanner selected by the user equipment from the at least twomultiple-access manners according to a predetermined condition.

The memory 913 is configured to store a one-to-one correspondencebetween the specified multiple-access manner and a correspondingmultiple-access manner, where the one-to-one correspondence includes: ifthe specified multiple-access manner is the first multiple-accessmanner, the corresponding multiple-access manner is the firstmultiple-access manner; if the specified multiple-access manner is thesecond multiple-access manner, the corresponding multiple-access manneris the second multiple-access manner; and if the specifiedmultiple-access manner is the third multiple-access manner, thecorresponding multiple-access manner is any one of the firstmultiple-access manner, the second multiple-access manner, and the thirdmultiple-access manner.

The transmitter 914 is configured to send downlink data to the userequipment in the corresponding multiple-access manner on atime-frequency resource corresponding to the correspondingmultiple-access manner, where the corresponding multiple-access manneris a multiple-access manner that is obtained by the processor bysearching the at least two multiple-access manners according to thecorrespondence prestored by the memory 913 and that is associated withthe specified multiple-access manner.

The user equipment 950 includes: a processor 951, a transmitter 952, anda receiver 953.

The processor 951 is configured to acquire the correspondence betweenthe at least two multiple-access manners and the time-frequencyresource.

The processor 951 is further configured to select, from the at least twomultiple-access manners according to the predetermined condition, amultiple-access manner as the specified multiple-access manner.

Specifically, the processor 951 is specifically configured to: if thepredetermined condition includes a QOS priority of a service type,select the first multiple-access manner as the specified multiple-accessmanner when the QOS priority of the service type is relatively high; theprocessor 951 is further specifically configured to: if thepredetermined condition includes signal strength, select the secondmultiple-access manner as the specified multiple-access manner when thesignal strength is less than a first preset threshold; the processor 951is further specifically configured to: if the predetermined conditionincludes a size of a data block in a service type, select the thirdmultiple-access manner as the specified multiple-access manner when thesize of the data block transmitted in the service type is less than afourth preset threshold; and the processor 951 is further specificallyconfigured to: if the predetermined condition includes a multiple-accessmanner selection range, select, from a selectable range defined in themultiple-access manner selection range, a multiple-access manner as thespecified multiple-access manner.

The transmitter 952 is configured to send the uplink data to the basestation in the specified multiple-access manner, selected by theprocessor 951, on the time-frequency resource corresponding to thespecified multiple-access manner.

The receiver 953 is configured to receive the downlink data that is sentby the base station in the corresponding multiple-access manner on thetime-frequency resource corresponding to the correspondingmultiple-access manner, where the corresponding multiple-access manneris a multiple-access manner that is obtained by the base station bysearching the at least two multiple-access manners according to theprestored correspondence and that is associated with the specifiedmultiple-access manner.

In conclusion, according to the communications system provided in thisembodiment, user equipment acquires a correspondence between at leasttwo multiple-access manners and a time-frequency resource; a basestation receives uplink data that is sent by the user equipment in aspecified multiple-access manner on a time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the specified multiple-access manner; and the basestation sends downlink data to the user equipment in a correspondingmultiple-access manner on a time-frequency resource corresponding to thecorresponding multiple-access manner. In this way, a problem thatbecause one multiple-access manner is used in a same communicationssystem, requirements of different user equipments cannot be met at thesame time is resolved, and an effect of meeting requirements ofdifferent user equipments is achieved because a same communicationssystem can provide multiple multiple-access manners at the same time forselection by user equipment. In addition, the base station prestores aone-to-one correspondence between the specified multiple-access mannerand the corresponding multiple-access manner, so that after receivingthe uplink data sent by the user equipment, the base station can sendthe downlink data to the user equipment in the correspondingmultiple-access manner, which is obtained according to the prestoredone-to-one correspondence and is associated with the specifiedmultiple-access manner, on the time-frequency resource corresponding tothe corresponding multiple-access manner. In this way, a problem thatbecause the base station sends the downlink data in a mannerunidentifiable by the user equipment, communication is interrupted isresolved, and an effect of ensuring smoothness of a communicationprocess without significantly increasing device complexity of the userequipment is achieved.

Referring to FIG. 10, FIG. 10 is a structural block diagram of acommunications system according to another embodiment of the presentinvention. The communications system includes: a base station 1010 anduser equipment 1050.

The base station 1010 includes: a transmitter 1011, a processor 1012, areceiver 1013, and a memory 1014.

The transmitter 1011 is configured to send signaling used forconfiguring a multiple-access manner selection range to the userequipment, where the multiple-access manner selection range is aselectable range when the user equipment selects a multiple-accessmanner from at least two multiple-access manners according to apredetermined condition. The first multiple-access manner is an OFDMAmultiple-access manner or an SC-FDMA multiple-access manner, a secondmultiple-access manner is an OFDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner or anSC-FDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner, and a third multiple-access manneris an OFDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner or an SC-FDMA+IDMAmultiple-access manner.

The processor 1012 is further configured to generate a correspondencebetween at least two multiple-access manners and a time-frequencyresource according to a predetermined categorization manner, where thepredetermined categorization manner includes any one of three manners:categorization according to a time domain, categorization according to afrequency domain, and categorization according to a time-frequencydomain.

The transmitter 1011 is further configured to send the correspondencebetween the at least two multiple-access manners and the time-frequencyresource to the user equipment according to a predetermined sendingmanner, where the predetermined sending manner includes: a notificationby using a system broadcast or a notification by using signaling.

The receiver 1013 is configured to receive uplink data that is sent bythe user equipment in a specified multiple-access manner on atime-frequency resource corresponding to the specified multiple-accessmanner, where the specified multiple-access manner is a multiple-accessmanner selected by the user equipment from the at least twomultiple-access manners according to the predetermined condition.

The memory 1014 is configured to store a one-to-one correspondencebetween the specified multiple-access manner and a correspondingmultiple-access manner, where the one-to-one correspondence includes: ifthe specified multiple-access manner is the first multiple-accessmanner, the corresponding multiple-access manner is the firstmultiple-access manner; if the specified multiple-access manner is thesecond multiple-access manner, the corresponding multiple-access manneris the second multiple-access manner; and if the specifiedmultiple-access manner is the third multiple-access manner, thecorresponding multiple-access manner is any one of the firstmultiple-access manner, the second multiple-access manner, and the thirdmultiple-access manner.

The transmitter 1011 is further configured to send downlink data to theuser equipment in the corresponding multiple-access manner on atime-frequency resource corresponding to the correspondingmultiple-access manner, where the corresponding multiple-access manneris a multiple-access manner that is obtained by the processor bysearching the at least two multiple-access manners according to theprestored correspondence and that is associated with the specifiedmultiple-access manner.

Specifically, the processor 1012 is further configured to search for acorresponding multiple-access manner corresponding to a specifiedmultiple-access manner that is most recently used by the user equipment;and the transmitter 1011 is specifically configured to send the downlinkdata to the user equipment in the corresponding multiple-access manner,found by the processor 1012, on the time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the corresponding multiple-access manner.

The receiver 1013 is further configured to receive a receiving feedbacksent by the user equipment.

The transmitter 1011 is configured to: if the receiver 1013 does notreceive the receiving feedback of the user equipment for the downlinkdata, send the downlink data again to the user equipment on atime-frequency resource corresponding to another multiple-access mannerdifferent from the corresponding multiple-access manner in the at leasttwo multiple-access manners.

The user equipment 1050 includes: a receiver 1051, a memory 1052, aprocessor 1053, and a transmitter 1054.

The memory 1052 is configured to prestore the multiple-access mannerselection range agreed upon in advance, where the multiple-access mannerselection range is a selectable range when user equipment selects amultiple-access manner from the at least two multiple-access mannersaccording to a service type.

Alternatively, the receiver 1051 is configured to receive signaling thatis used for configuring the multiple-access manner selection range andthat is sent by a base station, and the memory 1052 is furtherconfigured to store the multiple-access manner selection rangeconfigured by using the signaling that is sent by the base station andthat is received by the receiver 1051.

The processor 1053 is configured to acquire the correspondence betweenthe at least two multiple-access manners and the time-frequencyresource. Specifically, the processor 1053 is specifically configured toacquire the prestored correspondence, where the correspondence is acorrespondence agreed upon in advance; or, the processor 1053 is furtherspecifically configured to control the receiver 1051 to receive thecorrespondence that is sent by the base station according to apredetermined sending manner, where the predetermined sending mannerincludes: a notification by using a system broadcast or a notificationby using signaling.

The processor 1053 is further configured to select, from the at leasttwo multiple-access manners according to the predetermined condition, amultiple-access manner as the specified multiple-access manner, wherethe predetermined condition includes one of or a combination of morethan one of a QOS priority of a service type, signal strength, a size ofa data block in a service type, and a multiple-access manner selectionrange.

Specifically, the processor 1053 is specifically configured to: if thepredetermined condition includes a QOS priority of a service type,select the first multiple-access manner as the specified multiple-accessmanner when the QOS priority of the service type is relatively high; theprocessor 1053 is further specifically configured to: if thepredetermined condition includes signal strength, select the secondmultiple-access manner as the specified multiple-access manner when thesignal strength is less than a first preset threshold; the processor1053 is further specifically configured to: if the predeterminedcondition includes a size of a data block in a service type, select thethird multiple-access manner as the specified multiple-access mannerwhen the size of the data block transmitted in the service type is lessthan a fourth preset threshold; and the processor 1053 is furtherspecifically configured to: if the predetermined condition includes amultiple-access manner selection range, select, in a selectable rangedefined in the multiple-access manner selection range stored in thememory 1052, a multiple-access manner as the specified multiple-accessmanner.

The transmitter 1054 is configured to send the uplink data to the basestation on the time-frequency resource corresponding to the specifiedmultiple-access manner selected by the processor 1053.

The receiver 1051 is further configured to receive the downlink datathat is sent by the base station in the corresponding multiple-accessmanner on the time-frequency resource corresponding to the correspondingmultiple-access manner, where the corresponding multiple-access manneris a multiple-access manner that is obtained by the base station bysearching the at least two multiple-access manners according to theprestored correspondence and that is associated with the specifiedmultiple-access manner.

The transmitter 1054 is further configured to send a receiving feedbackto the base station after the receiver 1051 receives the downlink data.

The receiver 1051 is further configured to receive the downlink datasent again by the base station, where the downlink data sent again issent, after the base station does not receive the receiving feedback ofthe user equipment for the downlink data sent in the correspondingmultiple-access manner on the time-frequency resource corresponding tothe corresponding multiple-access manner, to the user equipment again inanother multiple-access manner different from the correspondingmultiple-access manner in the at least two multiple-access manners.

The processor 1053 is further configured to determine, at eachpredetermined time interval, whether a currently used specifiedmultiple-access manner still satisfies the predetermined condition.

The processor 1053 is further configured to: if it is determined thatthe currently used specified multiple-access manner still satisfies thepredetermined condition, keep the currently used specifiedmultiple-access manner unchanged.

The processor 1053 is further configured to: if it is determined thatthe currently used specified multiple-access manner does not satisfy thepredetermined condition, select again, from the at least twomultiple-access manners according to the predetermined condition, amultiple-access manner as the specified multiple-access manner.

In conclusion, according to the communications system provided in thisembodiment, user equipment acquires a correspondence between at leasttwo multiple-access manners and a time-frequency resource; a basestation receives uplink data that is sent by the user equipment in aspecified multiple-access manner on a time-frequency resourcecorresponding to the specified multiple-access manner; and the basestation sends downlink data to the user equipment in a correspondingmultiple-access manner on a time-frequency resource corresponding to thecorresponding multiple-access manner. In this way, a problem thatbecause one multiple-access manner is used in a same communicationssystem, requirements of different user equipments cannot be met at thesame time is resolved, and an effect of meeting requirements ofdifferent user equipments is achieved because a same communicationssystem can provide multiple multiple-access manners at the same time forselection by user equipment. In addition, the base station prestores aone-to-one correspondence between the specified multiple-access mannerand the corresponding multiple-access manner, so that after receivingthe uplink data sent by the user equipment, the base station can sendthe downlink data to the user equipment in the correspondingmultiple-access manner, which is obtained according to the prestoredone-to-one correspondence and is associated with the specifiedmultiple-access manner, on the time-frequency resource corresponding tothe corresponding multiple-access manner. In this way, a problem thatbecause the base station sends the downlink data in a mannerunidentifiable by the user equipment, communication is interrupted isresolved, and an effect of ensuring smoothness of a communicationprocess without significantly increasing device complexity of the userequipment is achieved. In addition, it is checked at every fixed timeinterval whether a currently used multiple-access manner still satisfiesa predetermined condition, to determine whether the multiple-accessmanner needs to be changed, so as to ensure quality of communicationmore preferably during a communication process.

A person of ordinary skill in the art may understand that all or some ofthe steps of the embodiments may be implemented by hardware or a programinstructing related hardware. The program may be stored in acomputer-readable storage medium. The storage medium may be a read-onlymemory, a magnetic disk, an optical disc, or the like.

The foregoing descriptions are merely exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention, but are not intended to limit the present invention.Any modification, equivalent replacement, and improvement made withoutdeparting from the spirit and principle of the present invention shallfall within the protection scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A communication method comprising: receiving, bya base station, uplink data that is sent by user equipment in a firstmultiple-access manner on a first time-frequency resource, wherein thefirst time-frequency resource is corresponding to the firstmultiple-access manner, the first multiple-access manner is selected bythe user equipment from at least two multiple-access manners; andsending, by the base station, downlink data to the user equipment in asecond multiple-access manner on a second time-frequency resource,wherein the second time-frequency resource is corresponding to thesecond multiple-access manner, and the second multiple-access manner isassociated with the first multiple-access manner and is obtainedaccording to a prestored first correspondence between the firstmultiple-access manner and the second multiple-access manner, whereinthe at least two multiple-access manners comprise at least two of athird multiple-access manner, a fourth multiple-access manner, and afifth multiple-access manner, the third multiple-access manner is one ofan Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) multiple-accessmanner and a Single-carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA)multiple-access manner, the fourth multiple-access manner is one of anOFDMA+Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) multiple-access manner and anSC-FDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner, and the fifth multiple-accessmanner is one of an OFDMA+Interleaver-Division Multiple Access (IDMA)multiple-access manner and an SC-FDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner. 2.The method according to claim 1, before the receiving uplink data,further comprising: sending a second correspondence between the at leasttwo multiple-access manners and time-frequency resources to the userequipment according to a predetermined sending manner, wherein thepredetermined sending manner comprises one of a notification by using asystem broadcast or a notification by using signaling.
 3. The methodaccording to claim 1, before sending the downlink data to the userequipment, the method further comprising: storing the firstcorrespondence between the first multiple-access manner and the secondmultiple-access manner, wherein the first correspondence comprises: ifthe first multiple-access manner is the third multiple-access manner,the second multiple-access manner is the third multiple-access manner;if the first multiple-access manner is the fourth multiple-accessmanner, the second multiple-access manner is the fourth multiple-accessmanner; and if the first multiple-access manner is the fifthmultiple-access manner, the second multiple-access manner is any one ofthe third multiple-access manner, the fourth multiple-access manner, andthe fifth multiple-access manner.
 4. The method according to claim 1,wherein the sending downlink data to the user equipment comprises:searching for the second multiple-access manner associated with thefirst multiple-access manner that is most recently used by the userequipment; and sending the downlink data to the user equipment in thesecond multiple-access manner on the second time-frequency resource. 5.The method according to claim 1, after the sending downlink data to theuser equipment, further comprising: if a feedback of the user equipmentfor the downlink data is not received, sending again the downlink datato the user equipment in another multiple-access manner different fromthe second multiple-access manner in the at least two multiple-accessmanners.
 6. A communication method comprising: acquiring, by userequipment, a second correspondence between at least two multiple-accessmanners and time-frequency resources; selecting, by the user equipmentfrom the at least two multiple-access manners according to apredetermined condition, a first multiple-access manner; sending, by theuser equipment, uplink data to a base station in the firstmultiple-access manner on a first time-frequency resource, wherein thefirst time-frequency resource is corresponding to the firstmultiple-access manner in the second correspondence; and receiving, bythe user equipment from the base station, downlink data in a secondmultiple-access manner on a second time-frequency resource, wherein thesecond time-frequency resource is corresponding to the secondmultiple-access manner in the second correspondence, wherein the secondmultiple-access manner is obtained by the base station according to afirst correspondence in which the second multiple-access manner isassociated with the first multiple-access manner, wherein the at leasttwo multiple-access manners comprise at least two of a thirdmultiple-access manner, a fourth multiple-access manner, and a fifthmultiple-access manner, the third multiple-access manner is one of anOrthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) multiple-accessmanner and a Single-carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA)multiple-access manner, the fourth multiple-access manner is anOFDMA+Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) multiple-access manner or anSC-FDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner, and the fifth multiple-accessmanner is an OFDMA+Interleaver-Division Multiple Access (IDMA)multiple-access manner or an SC-FDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner.
 7. Themethod according to claim 6, wherein the second correspondence is agreedupon with the base station in advance; or, the acquiring a secondcorrespondence comprises: receiving the second correspondence from thebase station via system broadcast or signaling.
 8. The method accordingto claim 6, wherein the predetermined condition for selecting the firstmultiple-access manner comprises one of: a quality of service (QOS)priority of the service type, selecting the third multiple-access manneras the first multiple-access manner when the QOS priority of the servicetype is relatively high; signal strength, selecting the fourthmultiple-access manner as the first multiple-access manner when thesignal strength is less than a first preset threshold; a size of a datablock in a service type, selecting the fifth multiple-access manner asthe first multiple-access manner when the size of the data block in theservice type is less than a fourth preset threshold; and amultiple-access manner selection range, selecting, from a selectablerange defined in the multiple-access manner selection range, amultiple-access manner as the first multiple-access manner.
 9. Themethod according to claim 8, wherein the multiple-access mannerselection range is prestored by the user equipment, wherein themultiple-access manner selection range is agreed upon with the basestation in advance; or before selecting the predetermined condition, afirst multiple-access manner, the method further comprises receiving,from the base station, signaling that is used for configuring themultiple-access manner selection range.
 10. The method according toclaim 6, after the receiving downlink data, further comprising:receiving the downlink data sent again by the base station in anothermultiple-access manner different from the second multiple-access manner,wherein the downlink data is sent again in case that the base stationdoes not receive a feedback of the user equipment for the downlink datasent in the second multiple-access manner.
 11. A base stationcomprising: a processor, coupled with a receiver, a transmitter, and amemory, wherein the receiver is configured to receive uplink data fromuser equipment in a first multiple-access manner on a firsttime-frequency resource, wherein the first time-frequency resource iscorresponding to the first multiple-access manner, and the firstmultiple-access manner is selected by the user equipment from at leasttwo multiple-access manners; and the transmitter is configured to senddownlink data to the user equipment in a second multiple-access manneron a second time-frequency resource, wherein the second time-frequencyresource is corresponding to the second multiple-access manner, and thesecond multiple-access manner is obtained by the processor according toa first correspondence in which the second multiple-access manner isassociated with the first multiple-access manner, wherein the at leasttwo multiple-access manners comprise at least two of a thirdmultiple-access manner, a fourth multiple-access manner, and a fifthmultiple-access manner, the third multiple-access manner is one of anOrthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) multiple-accessmanner and a Single-carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA)multiple-access manner, the fourth multiple-access manner is one of anOFDMA+Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) multiple-access manner and anSC-FDMA+CDMA multiple-access manner, and the fifth multiple-accessmanner is one of OFDMA+Interleaver-Division Multiple Access (IDMA)multiple-access manner and an SC-FDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner. 12.The base station according to claim 11, wherein the transmitter isfurther configured to send a second correspondence between the at leasttwo multiple-access manners and time-frequency resources to the userequipment according to a predetermined sending manner, and thepredetermined sending manner comprises one of a notification by using asystem broadcast or a notification by using signaling.
 13. The basestation according to claim 11, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to generate the second correspondence between the at leasttwo multiple-access manners and the time-frequency resources accordingto a predetermined categorization manner, and the predeterminedcategorization manner comprises any one of three manners: categorizationaccording to a time domain, categorization according to a frequencydomain, and categorization according to a time-frequency domain.
 14. Thebase station according to claim 11, wherein the memory is furtherconfigured to store the first correspondence, and the firstcorrespondence comprises: if the first multiple-access manner is thethird multiple-access manner, the second multiple-access manner is thethird multiple-access manner; if the first multiple-access manner is thefourth multiple-access manner, the fourth multiple-access manner is thesecond multiple-access manner; and if the first multiple-access manneris the fifth multiple-access manner, the second multiple-access manneris any one of the third multiple-access manner, the fourthmultiple-access manner, and the fifth multiple-access manner.
 15. Thebase station according to claim 11, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to search for the second multiple-access manner that isassociated with the first multiple-access manner most recently used bythe user equipment and that is received by the receiver; and thetransmitter is further configured to send the downlink data to the userequipment in the second multiple-access manner on the secondtime-frequency resource.
 16. User equipment, comprising: a processor,coupled with a transmitter, a receiver, and a memory, wherein theprocessor is configured to acquire a second correspondence between atleast two multiple-access manners and time-frequency resources, andselect, from the at least two multiple-access manners according to apredetermined condition, a first multiple-access manner; the transmitteris configured to send uplink data to a base station in the firstmultiple-access manner on a first time-frequency resource which iscorresponding to the first multiple-access manner; and the receiver isconfigured to receive, from the base station, downlink data in a secondmultiple-access manner on a second time-frequency resource, wherein thesecond time-frequency resource is corresponding to the secondmultiple-access manner, wherein the second multiple-access manner isobtained by the base station according to a prestored firstcorrespondence between the first multiple-access manner and the secondmultiple-access manner, wherein the at least two multiple-access mannerscomprise at least two of a third t multiple-access manner, a fourthmultiple-access manner, and a fifth multiple-access manner, the thirdmultiple-access manner is one of an Orthogonal Frequency DivisionMultiple Access (OFDMA) multiple-access manner and a Single-carrierFrequency-Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) multiple-access manner, thefourth multiple-access manner is one of an OFDMA+Code Division MultipleAccess CDMA multiple-access manner and an SC-FDMA+CDMA multiple-accessmanner, and the fifth multiple-access manner is one of anOFDMA+Interleaver-Division Multiple Access (IDMA) multiple-access mannerand an SC-FDMA+IDMA multiple-access manner.
 17. The user equipmentaccording to claim 16, wherein the memory is configured to store thesecond correspondence which is agreed upon with the base station inadvance; or, the receiver is further configured to receive, from thebase station, the second correspondence via a system broadcast orsignaling.
 18. The user equipment according to claim 16, wherein whenthe predetermined condition (a) is a quality of service (QOS) priorityof a service type, the processor is configured to select the thirdmultiple-access manner as the first multiple-access manner when the QOSpriority of the service type is relatively high; (b) is signal strength,the processor is configured to select the fourth multiple-access manneras the first multiple-access manner when the signal strength is lessthan a first preset threshold; (c) is a size of a data block in aservice type, the processor is configured to select the fifthmultiple-access manner as the first multiple-access manner when the sizeof the data block transmitted in the service type is less than a fourthpreset threshold; and (d) is a multiple-access manner selection range,the processor is configured to select, from a selectable range definedin the multiple-access manner selection range, a multiple-access manneras the first multiple-access manner.
 19. The user equipment according toclaim 18, wherein the memory is configured to prestore themultiple-access manner selection range, wherein the multiple-accessmanner selection range is a multiple-access manner selection rangeagreed upon with the base station in advance; or, the receiver isfurther configured to receive, from the base station, signaling that isused for configuring the multiple-access manner selection range; and thememory is further configured to store the multiple-access mannerselection range that is configured by using the signaling.
 20. The userequipment according to claim 18, wherein there are two or threeselectable multiple-access manners in the multiple-access mannerselection range; and the processor is further configured to determine,at each predetermined time interval, whether the first multiple-accessmanner currently used by the transmitter still satisfies thepredetermined condition; if a determining result is that the firstmultiple-access manner still satisfies the predetermined condition, keepthe first specified multiple-access manner unchanged; and if adetermining result is that the first multiple-access manner does notsatisfy the predetermined condition, select again, from the at least twomultiple-access manners according to the predetermined condition, amultiple-access manner as a new multiple-access manner.